Arcee Ascendant
by Prander
Summary: Culminating from the seventeen Arcee/Jack and Optimus/June stories, thing will never be the same in this new series. Graphic sexual content. You've been warned. Thanks for the feedback and reviews and please check out my profile or forum for a personal thank you. :)
1. June

**June**

June trotted around the house, excited, with a spring in her step. She was a thoughtful woman at times and she knew what she was feeling was something akin to when she was twenty. To be quick on your feet and moving fast, snap decisions and carefree, with an evening just _starting_ at eight o'clock rather than slowing down.

It even translated to her outfit. A dark blue hooded sweater, white tank top and blue jeans, sparkling white sneakers and her hair pulled back in her eternal ponytail. Light and sexy. Just how she liked it when these last minute calls meant the evening was just getting _started _at eight o'clock rather than slowing down.

Well why not? She had to make use of every chance she got these days.

These days it was a life of secrets and somehow they had reached a balance in June. Perhaps the secret to having peace of mind _was _not thinking so much but she had done plenty of thinking in these past few weeks anyway. And each time, no less than before, her mind stayed made up. Half a dozen times a day she would rethink things. In the car, at work, at home, and was surprised to find she was left with little regret.

A first for her.

**ooo**

Earlier she had showered and headed into her bedroom in just her sleeping shorts, her bare nipples hard with anticipation.

After a slow shift at the hospital today she had fully expected a boring evening at home but the first of her secrets was it would hardly be boring at all. Not like they had been before. Not after Arcee's present. She had shut and locked her door and immediately went to her closet, her hair still up in a towel but she couldn't bear to wait.

A minute later and she slipped out the tough black case from behind her luggage and came over to sit down on the bed, the case on her lap. June bit her lip as she entered the lock combination and slowly opened the case to reveal something she never thought she would be in possession of.

It glowed slightly, sleek and dark blue, fit snug into the formed styrofoam case around it and if she didn't know better it almost looked like a weapon.

Well, it _was _a weapon of sorts and June grinned impishly as she ran a finger down it's length. It was warm. A weapon to make her a howling, pink cheeked, weak kneed slave to pleasure. She set it aside and sprang up to her feet with a little hum, whipping her towel off with a grand gesture and rocking on her toes as she did her hair and started on her eyes in the bedroom mirror.

First though, one more time her hair went back in her eternal ponytail but the strange thing was, something she never noticed until it was pointed out to her, her ponytail caressing the back of her neck and between her shoulder blades could have a surprising erotic effect. She swished her head back and forth a little across her shoulders, and flicked her nipples while smiling at her reflection.

Oh, yeah.

_Like I need help being turned on. _

She stepped back a pace, rotating her hips back and forth as she put some finishing touches to her hair. Her moderate breasts were swinging lightly, and she admired her own taught stomach and long legs.

_I like how I look. I excite myself. _

But as she modeled herself in the mirror out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of a dark velvet dress box on her closet floor.

June lowered her arms and turned a little, setting her hands on her hips and staring at it for a moment.

After a moment she shook her head a little and backed up to sit back down on her bed, her hairbrush clutched between her knees as she sat there and looked back into the closet.

Without looking she reached over and closed the black case on her comforter and gently pushed it aside for the moment and then she went back to sitting there half naked, ruminating and suddenly thoughtful again.

But it was a little different this time. That was the dress she wore her first night...her first _date..._with Optimus.

**ooo**

I've changed since that first night. All to quickly.

Is it really possible to be so fundamentally different in less than a year? To be that lonely single mom needing love and sex in equal measures to...to the person I was just a month ago? Acting out and being reckless and slutty? And now back to a horny single mom with the huge secret I'm carrying around inside my head and in a black case on the bed?

Do I always have to be so damn introspective? Well, if anything was going to give me pause it would be memories of Optimus.

**ooo**

June itched the spot under her nose with one finger and looked down at her hairbrush.

**ooo**

Optimus didn't..._couldn't_ have me. For good and solid reasons. And the moment he dumped me it made sense really, because if I brought disharmony to team Prime that could have endangered Jack.

Buy my God, June, what are you doing now?!

Nothing I didn't do with Optimus! The next time we were together he had me howling and half naked in his cab, dressed like a cheap hooker. So I like to live a little and look hot! So what?

And last month?

That wasn't me. That was...impulsive and stupid. I don't even run that anymore.

You ran into the guy at the supermarket two weeks ago.

**ooo**

June rolled her eyes and bonked her hairbrush off her head twice, shaking her head.

**ooo**

Well so what?! He should be flattered. And it felt good to be selfish.

The very argument you couldn't resist using on Arcee the night of your special 'talk' that was really just a confession of lust that led to love making.

So I was caught up in the taboo of things. So I was sick of being a good girl. So I wanted to see how far I would go. So I was curious!

Bullshit. Once you started working off your lust with Arcee you've gone back to happily rationalizing it, but you haven't _stopped_ either. You're calmer and less dangerous but you're more hooked on it than ever before. Or you wouldn't be sitting here trying to justify sneaking around behind Jack's back with a custom made vibrator.

**ooo**

She looked up at the mirror.

**ooo**

I'm not trying to. _Yes, okay_!? I'm hooked on it. If I have to be held accountable for one thing in life it's that this time I'm being someone else that others don't believe I'm capable of. That they have no clue who I am when I'm like this, or what I am about. Even my son! And I like it. Call it what you will. Nymphomania, selfishness, betrayal, treachery, narcissism, whatever! But I went to Optimus with my heart on my sleeve and ended up the worse for it with an out of control body. The after shocks of sleeping with the leader of the Autobot's has had such a fall out I didn't think _anything _would _ever_ be the same.

But then along comes Arcee and incredible things happen. Incredible revelations good and bad! But what's even more, is that everyone is slowly going back to normal, despite all that. The rules of the game have changed and I'm not so missed back at base as they would like to tell themselves. And I don't miss it that much myself, really, thanks to Arcee.

But you can't expect me to give it up after such a taste and go back to plain ol' 'kinda hot' mom! Even Arcee believes there's a level of addiction here and her bio-fluids are increasing the effects. But I feel better than I have ever felt before. My body is glowing, my skin is clear, and I have energy to spare.

And you thrill to play at bisexuality.

So what?

With your son's intergalactic girlfriend.

**ooo**

June sighed and looked over at the case.

**ooo**

I never thought in a million years it would be her. But it makes sense in it's own way. It's just a secret. One of many. I need this.

Doesn't it bother you that Arcee would be so flippant of Jack's feeling as she starts sleeping with his mother?

It's just girl time. A woman thing. He wouldn't understand.

Understand? Would he understand the stories she tells you about the two of them? Makes you squirm doesn't it? Why? Because you like it.

She just a little naive. She doesn't know what she's saying.

Give it whatever cute label you want, it's _fucked up_.

What he doesn't know won't hurt him!

You're lying to yourself that you won't be caught.

Stop it!

You _should_ be caught. This is a terrible, horrible, horrible thing you're doing.

**ooo**

"Stop it!" She shot up off the bed and stomped her foot. She glared at the mirror and threw her brush at the dresser top, scattering compacts and lipsticks.

She marched up to the mirror and leaned on the edge of the dresser, glaring at herself, one foot twisting into the carpet behind her. Then she looked down at all the new make up and perfumes she had been buying up.

"This is me now and it's just too gawdamn bad!" She growled a little and pulling her small chair over to her, she sat down.

**ooo**

She was finishing her make up when Arcee called. A rare, delightful precious moment where they had a window of opportunity to sneak away! That stars must have aligned correctly or something. June trusted Arcee's judgment completely and this added to the excitement.

The thrill.

"Bring the case." Arcee said over the phone, her own voice excited. "And hurry!"

"I will." June had replied.

And now she snatched up her backpack and helmet from the hallway, clicking off the lights and hustling over to the door.

June Darby turned and looked out over her home. Through the living room and back towards the kitchen and dark bedrooms.

Some time ago she would have noted the dust, the slightly shabby look. Clothes here and there. The need to be freshened up and looked after.

_Look after yourself._

Then she was out the front door, slamming the door behind her and tucking her hair up into her helmet. Running down the front yard to the bike and rider waiting for her at the curb.

Together they raced off into the night.


	2. Jack

**Jack**

_This is dangerous, Jack Darby._

_ Fuck it. I know what I'm doing._

Jack Darby crawled along the sand as low as if he was working his way under barbwire. The heat of the sun blazed down on him and the red basalt of the mesas of Nevada. But if anyone had looked his way, he would have froze and turned into just so much more rock.

His camouflage was perfect. A combination of synthetic 'Chameleon' wear he and Ratchet had been working on and other signal scrambling gear woven from thread that was colored to match the desert sands and rock to within ninety six point three microns.

He had seen this thread under a microscope and it was actually octagonal in shape. Some reflective properties like the prisms of a crystal or some such thing, the science was lost on him. But he and Ratchet had personally engineered it around Jack's frame with the intent of seeing if this enhanced it's properties when custom made for the wearer.

It had. It even smoothly changed color values in all shades of light.

Ratchet had been pleased at that, but was more or less determined to make a 'stock' flack vest of the stuff for the special agents that sometimes fought alongside the Autobots.

It wasn't Jack's place to point out that Ratchet seemed determined to proceed cautiously with any of his experiments at a pace that seemed paranoid.

I guess the disastrous days of synthetic energon haunted the old medic.

But Jack's Mark II full body gear was complete, down to the boots...and that meant he had his own personal ninja suit.

That should have been the end of it, boxed up and shelved. But it wasn't.

_No one knows I am out here. They would literally line up and take a number to shit kittens if they did._

Jack Darby didn't wear it to scare Miko or stand still for measurements like he was in a tailor's shop. And he didn't do what he was told and keep his fingers out of the cookie jar and mind the home fires like a good boy.

Today he wore it to do a little hunting.

In the back of his mind, Jack remembered the hesitant boy-hero he was just four years ago. That kid never would have dared to spill milk on the floor much less something so covert as what he was up to now.

Jack moved like a sniper, slowly pushing the RPG ahead of him across the sand, wrapped in it's own 'chameleon cape'.

He felt good. Vivid.

And frustrated.

Slowly he raised his head up over a small rock, his static charged goggles repelling the sand as clear as a flat screen TV.

The Vehicon came striding along, his gargoyle stature made all the more noticeable, so alien did he seem among the cactus and rocks. He was just down this sand dune, following a dry creek bed, and Jack was on his nine back up among the rocks.

_Right on time, asshole. _

Slowly, not taking his eyes off the Con', Jack primed his rocket.

Yeah, guys his age were busy making empty beer can pyramids on their headboards at college and thinking about how to talk their girlfriends into a blowjob after prom. The lucky few would get laid.

Jack Darby was going to kill an intergalactic invader from Cybertron this afternoon.

No one was the wiser. Not even Fowler.

Jack had changed. Grown. And sometimes he surprised even himself.

He knew how to keep things to himself...he always had, but as he neared twenty he did it more out of knowing knowledge was power, not out of shyness. Where before he ran around like a headless chicken trying to please everyone, now Jack Darby was cunning and thoughtful. He picked his battles and chose his moments rather than bend over backwards to please.

So what, you say? He was just getting older?

Perhaps. The scary thing was he still played the game. He still played the hopeless, lovable fool.

The Con' stopped and Jack smirked.

_Predictable fucker. Might as well wear a sign._

Slowly he made ready.

**ooo**

Sometimes he felt like two people.

The Jack Darby still making sure the garbage was taken out, that made sure Miko didn't get herself killed, that no one picked on Raf, and that the Autobot's could count on as level headed and reliable. The Jack Darby that Fowler humored like a son and the Jack Darby that still shuffled his feet when someone mentioned Sierra.

Secretly? He was the Jack Darby involved with Arcee in ways that would melt brains and pickle eyeballs.

See, he was _sleeping _with one of these intergalactic invaders. One that had come in peace four years ago. A female. Arcee, that was her. The equivalent of an amazon warrior woman dressed to kill with a sexuality that made him ache. One that had started out as his partner and then became so much more. A bond_ she_ had chosen and expanded on. A fourteen foot tall sex machine innocently eager to find out more about human pleasure one night in his garage. Almost a year ago.

_Now_ look at her.

Shit even Raf, going on fifteen, noticed it these days. Miko too.

Arcee was a fine piece of robotic ass and together they could barely keep it under wraps that she was horny as hell and hot to trot.

Lately, he felt, she didn't _want_ to.

Ever since the moment the two of them had taken the plunge and admitted to certain impulses. Ever since Arcee bio-engineered her body to be able to have sex. Ever since she began to learn _about_ sex and pleasure at a speed that was borderline manic compulsive...she had been feeding Jack.

Literally and figuratively.

The bio-fluids from her body? Energy drinks looked like dishwater next to it...without the side effects. Breast milk and pussy juice.

Jack snorted in his head.

Sometimes he felt like Peter Parker bitten by the genetic super-spider...but Arcee had never seen the movie.

In truth, while he felt vibrant and better than ever, he wasn't all that much changed. His body still needed everything it always did as he finished growing. His appetite was up a little and he had energy to spare, but it was the psychology that was the real scary thing.

If anything, partaking of Arcee's fluids made his body manufacture more testosterone and he was getting stronger as he secretly worked out.

But that was the real catch. Secretly.

He had divided his life.

Jack began to not let on to just the kind of man he was of late and it was_ more_ than coming into his own. He was changing in attitude _and _appetites. Even to himself. Even to _Arcee_ and she had no clue.

Maybe fucking an intergalactic slut will do that to you.

Jack Darby was _hungry..._and he didn't know what for.

That was why he took this suit. That was why he hunted Vehicons. That was why he lied to everyone where he was and what he was doing and how he got out here in secret. That was why Fowler and the military contingent never missed the weapons he 'borrowed'. That was why he taught himself how to do these things that would have made everyone freak out.

That was why he had done this twice before and knew exactly where the Con's patrolled.

That was why he was patient enough to wait and pick his time.

And his victim.

"This is Doomgear. There's nothing out here, commander." The Vehicon stood at a slouch, panning his gleaming red visor around at the baked desert of Nevada.

Jack Darby lowered his face to the sand and presented the top of his head.

_ There's irony in this somewhere. Maybe even a joke. My head might as well be a rock. Sometimes._

"Never the less you'll finish the route you were ordered to!" Starscreams voice crackled back over the intercom. "And keep your eyes peeled, you fool!"

"Yessir!" Doomgear replied with gusto as he panned and scanned.

His gaze passed right over Jack as he lay not more than twenty yards away.

Jack's masked face came back up and his eyes crinkled behind the goggles.

_Come on down, Starscream. I'll pluck your feathers._

But this was what Jack wanted. It was perfect.

Any second now.

He silently clicked off the well oiled safety.

Truth was...out here? Like this? Sometimes he scared himself.

It took an effort to focus on the change in himself. An effort to realize he was holding out on everyone. _Everyone_. An effort to know it was potentially a bad thing that he even put on a mask for Arcee. And how he let her believe they were a sex happy, punch drunk couple to horny for their own good. How everytime she wanted to, he happily fucked her, but was more hungry than he let on.

Being new to the game Arcee never noticed that Jack indulged her every whim easily. That nothing was surprising him. That he was enjoying each and every new kink with the ease of a male porn star.

And again, slowly growing in his guts, that hungry feeling for something more. Never abating, always demanded. For what, he just didn't know.

He loved the sex. He couldn't get enough. But something was missing.

And when he acted out like this it _was_ scary because he had to admit he might one day find himself wearing a mask...to himself.

**ooo **

Doomgear clicked off his communications and growled his disgust now that no one could hear him. No Transformer, anyway. He turned to continue his route, undoubtedly sorry he couldn't just speed along in vehicle mode. Jack grinned to himself.

Y_our speeding days are over._

"Hey, asshole." Jack said simply. He didn't even raise his voice.

Doomgear stiffened, already turning, already inevitably wondering if he heard right.

Jack shot him the face.

**ooo**

Now he stood over the body, nostrils wide, eyes bright. Enjoying the rush.

_ Number three. _

Each one shot down moment's after reporting in. Each one telling the Con's it was deliberate. Each one saying _See how easy this is? Fuck you!_

Jack Darby looked up at the sky, standing on a dune above the headless, smoking corpse of the Vehicon who went by the name of Doomgear.

He wrote the name in silver marker on the stock of his RPG and then tucked the pen into his vest, turning his weapon to the sun so the name would dry faster.

_How long before they set up an ambush for whoever is doing this?_

_ I don't care. I hope they do. I'll have changed tactics by then and maybe I can get more than one._

Jack sniffed behind his mask and stood there, thinking things over as he shifted the weight of his weapon.

He wasn't hungry for just anyone either.

How did know?

Miko.

It was that obvious.

She was filling out deliciously, truth be told. Rocketing through her teens and ready to graduate, she was the wet dream of every fan boy at school. The lithe, exotic, Korean exchange student with a sculpted ass, three shades of color in her hair, long legs, tights, chunky boots and perky full tits that she seemed oblivious of as she bounced along in t-shirts two sizes too small for her.

Spunky, fiery and fearless as ever.

Raf adored her and blushed to his ears everytime she gave him a hug.

As for Jack? Lately those dark eyes of her would sparkle in delight and she would press her breasts into his back extra hard with her trademark hug for _him_.

Raf she hugged like a little brother around the shoulders. Jack she hugged like someone she wanted to have squeeze her tits on a Friday night.

Big deal.

That was why Jack knew there were deeper changes in him he was struggling to stay aware of.

Miko's rampant sex appeal barely registered. At the age he was, Jack knew he should be jacking off twice a day to Miko. At least. She was shameless in her bold way and tight clothes.

And yet...what about Arcee?

Jack stared out over the sands, sweating, hot and vibrantly alive.

_I'm standing here like this, under these conditions, playing games with life and I have a hard on because no one knows what I'm doing._

_ I wanna fuck Arcee so bad right now._

Jack turned and started his run back towards the concealed dun-buggy he used for these excursions. He was trying to reign in his rush because it was a rush he couldn't quite identify and he was scared by how excited he was. Mentally and physically.

Arcee burned in his thoughts.

Some of her dirtiest acts. The dirtiest talk, the squirting fluids, the grinding and howling and rolling of her body. The way he felt inside her. The way his hair stood up on end. How she acted so slutty and sleazy and exhausted him with her perversions. How his body was producing more and cumming harder and longer than ever before.

_I've done more with Arcee than what other men do in a lifetime of grunting sex in a dark bedroom._

_Not even Miko can compare. If ever she wants to try me, she's in for a surprise. I might just show her..._

Jack was already back to his buggy and he pulled up quick, breathing hard and sweating harder.

_This is new. What's wrong with me?_

The unbidden thought that if Miko ever wanted to try it on, he would do so happily, even though he found it hard to be interested. For a moment there, Arcee wasn't even in his thoughts and he had been jogging half a mile with a hard on thinking about his return to base.

When did he already get back to the dune buggy?

Jack gulped air and set down his weapon before he started tugging the camo net off his buggy, nearly frantic.

_Calm down. Calm down. But what's the matter with me? Arcee's a bridge to lust. What the fuck are you talking about?_

_ You know. You feel like the 'man' don't you? Arcee's got you so wrapped up and addicted to her, not even Miko can get your attention. Yet you easily tell yourself that you would do her anyway. This isn't like you. You're acting as bad as Arcee. And what about how Arcee teases you? That get's your attention, doesn't it?_

_ I don't wanna think about that. _

_ But you do. Go ahead. There's no one here._

Jack bundled up the net and shot it into the back seat with both hands, reaching down and slapping his weapon down on top of it. He tore off the goggles and ripped off his mask, groping for a water bottle and wasting no time chugging deeply from it.

_Just blew off a Vehicon's head and now I go to pieces? Am I trying to jog my way to a sun stroke? Fuck! Just stress bleeding off. That's all. Gotta be._

_ Bullshit. Go ahead. Think about it. You know you want to. _

Jack slapped down his water bottle in the front seat and undid his pants quickly, sighing with relief and feeling his heart slow once he had freed himself out into the air.

He stared down at his erect cock aching almost painfully in the breeze.

Then he did what all men have done since time immemorial.

One hand on the roll cage, he stood there, letting his body slow down and his other hand speed up. It had come to this lately because, whether he wanted to admit to it or not, something was different about Arcee. It had never been easy to judge her thoughts. And to think she claimed Jack was exceptional at it! But he knew when something in her went distant and he knew how to reach her.

Not so much now.

He had come to understand her, sure, but where it was complicated was that he couldn't understand her about _him_. Not lately.

Sometimes, he felt like a toy. Used. And even though he was soaking it up secretly, selfishly getting his rocks off too, it still stung that she seemed to just _use_ him. And worse yet, for the first time he did the asking. And she obliged him with only half her usual fire.

_What's next? Not tonight, I have a headache?!_

Horribly, she seemed distant in appetite. A sudden development in just this last month. Was this the beginning of losing her? Was he doing something wrong? He should have humored her when she wanted to talk. Maybe should have humored her appetites.

_One minute I feel like the top dog, nailing Vehicon's with an RPG, and ten minutes later I'm beating off by myself, desperate not to think that Arcee doesn't want me anymore. _

_ What's going on?!_

He bit his lips and bored down, masturbating hard.

_It's not enough. Go ahead. You know what does the trick._

_ No! Stop it._

_ Go ahead._

"No." he said out loud, slowly dropping to his knees, down in the comparative shade on this side of the buggy's door.

"Arcee." He said, still holding onto himself and stroking firmly, leaning his head on the arm that held onto the roll cage above his head.

_ Go ahead._

"No."

After all, Arcee had been a sex starved banshee howling on the end of his cock for ten months and then, just like that, in three weeks they had only done it twice. What was worse, she wasn't finding time for him anymore.

Does it take just this short amount of time to make me feel insecure? What's going on with everyone? Nothing feels right anymore. It's all happening so fast! Ever since she went into town that one time.

I have _got _to get off but I can't! What the hell is her problem?! What's mine? Did I complain to much? Am I boring? Am I still just a lovable fool? What am I doing out here?

_Go ahead._

Jack took a deep breath and held it and his mind shot back to one memory that was his own secret guilty pleasure. Like a growing nugget of doubt Arcee had planted in his mind with all her meddling and talking dirty.

_It's her fault, that horny bitch._

As Jack Darby gasped and felt himself ejaculate hard out onto the sand in front of him, he wasn't thinking about Arcee or even Miko.

He was picturing shapely, milky white legs in fishnets.

On a wet, rainy night.

It wasn't the first time.


	3. Arcee

**Arcee**

Later that evening, Arcee sat alone up top. Rock side. On top of the mesa that housed their hidden base. It was late and the stars were clear as ever up here but she wasn't watching. She stared off into the distance, her eyes dreamy and unfocused. She was leaning on one arm and running things through her mind in machine perfect order, the patterns of intrigue, and those impacted by them all, laid out as if on a chart.

One knee up, her other boot dangling over the edge, she was playfully flicking little stones off into air for their long ride down to the bottom. Smiling to herself, she thought earlier about how Jack had stormed off to bed alone. And how he would _stay _sleeping alone.

His frustration made her smile.

She thought about tragic Optimus and sad little June, shy little Raf and dismissible Miko. And everyone else around her. Revolving around her whether they knew it or not.

Such a small little world and her grand scheme in things.

She chuckled to herself, her head back, loving this delicious new feeling down in her core.

She stayed there sometime, rocking herself and humming away.

Long into the night.

**_To be continued..._**


	4. Fear and frustration

**Fear and frustration **

"Here? Are you sure?" June looked around the parking lot, her dark eyes shining in the night but apprehensive all the same. She was dressed in blue jeans, jean jacket and sneakers and had a small knit hat over her hair since tonight was a little cool. Plus her backpack. She stood there now, holding the straps and look every bit the nervous single mom she was.

"Come on, June. If I'm not worried about them seeing me, why are you worried about them seeing you?" Arcee looked over at her, the svelte lines of her great, sleek form appealing and alluring even in the dark. She glowed just a tiny bit and June had to admit she was eager to get close and feel Arcee's particular kind of body heat. Still, were they really doing this?

"I don't know Arcee this is...dangerous." She bit her nail and peeked back out around the corner.

Arcee's luminescent blue eyes glowed with mischief..

"That's the thrill, girl!" she teased, reaching over with one hand and tickling June's butt for a second before turning back to what she was doing. June tried to work up a smile but she felt more butterflies of worry than she did excitement.

The industrial park of Jasper was pretty much deserted at this hour but Arcee's suggestion was more than a little disturbing. For several reasons. But she kept quiet and and stayed light on her toes as she kept a look out. She kept looking back up the street at the lone lamplight, watching for headlights.

This was the fifth evening she and Arcee has stolen away for themselves in three weeks. Perhaps if her life had been a little more interesting before, things wouldn't seem to be moving too fast now. But she was just chalking it up to how _years_ had gone by since she did anything risky and that she needed to loosen up.

Maybe that was true. Incredibly, sixteen years had ticked by until one day she looked up and she was suddenly thirty three. And then her life exploded in a direction she never thought possible as the _next _three years seemed to make up for lost time.

In that time, she had been abducted, shot at, chased, hunted, rescued, commended by the CIA and met aliens from another world ...all the while managing to hold down a job as a single mom.

And what was more? She had flown covert missions, performed battlefield triage, had her ass grabbed by agents in riot gear, and been at the mercy of living alien technology.

She smiled to herself impishly in the dark.

At the mercy of alien technology _sexually_ as well. She was involved with not one, but_ two_ of the living sentient Autobots that had come to Earth. Transformers. And to top if all off, her current love interest was female. So after all that, June Darby discovered she was bisexual and went along with breaking into empty warehouse in the middle of the night as they looked for places to fool around.

All part of her kick for trying new things, she supposed.

June looked back at Arcee, thoughtful and just a tiny bit conflicted.

Not for the first time, she was a little uncertain.

Arcee, ever the bold, reckless warrior woman of team Prime, never hesitated and forged ahead with anything she wanted almost heedlessly. Ever since she had stumbled upon June's lovelorn and desperate behavior over Optimus Prime, Arcee took it upon herself to 'rescue' June from her plight and to June's everlasting shock June had practically thrown herself at Arcee that first night. The two of them working off an incredible amount of sexual frustration together and thrilled to discover an attraction for each other beyond being just friends.

But once she calmed down and the libido she felt was a little more manageable, June couldn't help but be the old June just a _tiny_ bit these days.

Arcee took it all in stride and happily indulged herself and June without a care in the world it seemed. But June, despite all her reasoning, felt a growing guilt. She was actually a little relieved because for a time her conscience seemed to be on hold.

Not that it had improved over much. She just simply couldn't resist this and her sex drive had been such a whirlwind as of late, she hadn't given it much thought.

And then Arcee started taking chances.

"I should just snap the damn chain!" She growled lightly. The door she wanted through was an eighty foot tall extra wide steel monster. The only one Arcee would fit through, but the lock on it meant business.

"Don't do that!" June turned around and stepped up to her for a second, leaning over Arcee's arm where she was trying to pick the heavy lock with a nail file.

"Maybe I need some motivation. It's a little humiliating to be foiled by such a chuck of steel that you humans pass off for a lock."

"You're good with your hands though." June pressed her breasts to Arcee's arm under her coat and smiled up at her warmly for a moment before stepping away.

Arcee smiled back just as warmly and watched her go, nearly dropping her delicate tool as June turned around and walked back over to the watch the street, giving her butt a little wiggle playfully.

June was playing along but the apprehension was growing the more time she had time to think. She _was_ feeling naughty and meant what she said, her desire for some satisfaction stronger than her worry at the moment.

Arcee was magnetic and fascinating and what she called sex was incomparable to say the least. June had never thought such stimulation could exist and she was helpless before it, these kind of nights literally ending with her crawling on her hands and knees to get away from it but just begging for more as she gave in to it, sobbing in ecstasy and weak as a kitten.

_No one would understand. _

And when she had _that _thought, her mind went back to what she had been delving on about her conscience. Was the sex literally _so good_ she was content to keep betray her _son_ like this? Arcee was his girlfriend. She and Jack had been involved sexually for months before she stumbled upon June acting out and miserable. All from her abortive attempt to be close to Optimus. And as long as she ruminating about this, she also had to admit to some other side of herself feeling vindicated at the same time that at least _Arcee_ wanted her. It eased the sting of rejection quite selfishly.

There in lay the problem maybe. June had rationalized it all for Arcee that first night. So she couldn't readily distrust Arcee's apparent lack of concern for Jack's feelings now, could she? Arcee was adaptable as ever and felt she was _helping_ June as much as she was making love to her. She made no distinction between either of them.

So where did that leave June?

_Well, here I am. Playing with fire again and not stopping myself. But God I want her. I want her to want me. It feels nice to be wanted. Every thing that tells me this isn't a good idea, every worry that makes me cringe with a sense of it's just a matter of time until before we're caught...is scooped up in a basket and tossed over my shoulder the moment Arcee tickles my ass._

_ Even when she brought me here and carried me over the fence...her excitement was contagious. I want to feel her slide my jeans down. I want to feel that moment I peel my t-shirt off. The rush of spreading my legs. Her strength, power, heat and the way she makes me feel. _

June shook her head a tiny bit.

Arcee had assuaged June's bot-lust that she suffered in her break-up with Optimus just at a point that it was like she was having withdrawals. And the roller coaster ride of extraterrestrial orgasms since then were amazing and yet, going on their sixth evening together, June had begun to notice it was different than when she was with Optimus.

_Well I've never been bisexual before. I have nothing to compare it to. Optimus was incredible and he left me aching for him, body and soul. Arcee filled that void but at times she seems a little...raw and aggressive. Does that mean I am submissive? Part of me loves it when she takes over and just drives me wild. It's nice to not have to be strong, but sometimes, I feel a little cheap and I like that too! I thought I knew myself better._

June turned and leaned back against the wall, her hands behind her back and watched Arcee work.

_I have no idea where anyone is. Somewhere out there Jack is left to his own devices while Arcee sneaks away to get naked with me._

_ She saved me from certain disaster only to give rise to a new one. How long have I got? What's going to happen? The first time I didn't care. But I'm starting to now._

The lock popped and Arcee's face lit up, turning to June.

"We're in business."

June felt her nipples stiffen at the way Arcee's own armored chest sloped down over her narrow waist as she knelt there on her long legs.

_I'll worry later._

Arcee was already crawling through the door and it was her turn to shake her ass at June.

**ooo**


	5. Fire and flame

**Fire and flames**

"Woohoo!" Arcee skated into the building. Able to stand at her full height, she hopped up and kicked off from the door, working her long legs back and forth and catching one of the two tall central pillars, swinging around in a long wide half circle by her hand. Her boots trailed sparks across the cement.

June was laughing and half startled out of her mind after she pulled the door shut, watching over her shoulder.

"Arcee! Omigawd someone will hear us!" She locked it from the inside.

Arcee's eyes glowed and she launched herself at June, sliding back over to her on her knees before shifting her weight and swinging neatly around behind her.

"No chance of that, honey." She whispered in June's ear as she passed. June giggled from the tickle.

"I canceled out the place with my null field the moment we came through the door." She crawled up behind June and swatted her butt. June gave out a squeak and turned to frown up at her as Arcee laughed and got back to her feet. Together they walked further inside, looking around the wide open space.

June could feel warmth emanating from Arcee for the warehouse was drafty at this time of night and for a moment she felt a little crestfallen that whatever was to take place between them tonight would happen in this cold place.

Then she saw they were walking up on a partially walled in area at the front of the building. A nicely carpeted spot furnished with sofa and chairs and a small board room table off to the side. Two empty ending machines. It looked like a lobby or make shift conference room, framed in on three sides by offices and storage rooms. The walls were even finished off with insulation and paneling.

"Ah-h-haa." June sighed, setting her backpack down and feeling snugger already as she walked in.

"All this makes it feel like being back at base." She said, going around behind the sofa and trailing her finger along the back. Arcee stepped into the carpeted area herself and sat down in her customary way, one knee up, her back to the open warehouse and leaning up against one of the pillars.

"A bit nicer than that. But that's why I chose it. This place was some kind of show room or something for fancy off road toys. I thought you might like it since they left this furniture when they closed up shop." She smiled.

"I don't get out to the base much these days." June smiled sadly as she looked around.

"Do you miss it?" Arcee asked, leaning over to set up a small work-lamp she took from the backpack. It gave off a glow like a campfire, dispensing even more of the chill. June finished coming around the sofa with a little smile.

"Not so much." She glanced at Arcee shyly. "This place is so nice I could slip my shoes off." she looked up and around, feeling herself growing excited.

"Go ahead." Arcee smiled, one arm resting on her knee. June did just that, unhurried and a little nervous. She set her sneakers aside and looked up to see Arcee staring at her in her direct way.

June walked over to her, and Arcee leaned over for a hug that June returned warmly.

"Thank you for bringing me here." June smiled as they broke away but she stayed close to Arcee, her eyes shining as she looked up at her. She reached over and placed her hand over Arcee's own. Arcee turned her hand up to take hold of June's, and slipped her free hand around June's left side.

"You look so lovely, Arcee." June said in a small voice as she caressed Arcee's slender arm.

"So do you." Arcee answered, her fingers trailing up and down June's back and brushing over her bottom. Arcee cupped June's firm butt and pulled her in a little closer, leaning down with her glowing cobalt eyes and nuzzling the side of June's neck. June sighed, her eyes closing and her head going back. Their hands parted and together they helped June out of her jean jacket and it fell to side unnoticed.

"I'm not wearing a bra." June whispered in Arcee's ear and in response Arcee helped her slowly worked her t-shit up, the tingling closeness of Arcee's body making her nipples stiffen even more. Arcee kissed her way down June's chest and June shuddered as those soft agile lips stimulated her skin.

With baited breath she waited as Arcee circled her smaller breasts with soft kisses and then her strong supple mouth closed around June's hard little dark nipple.

June sighed, bringing her arms around the sides of Arcee's head now as the former unclipped her own chest armor and shrugged out of it as easily as June had her jean jacket. June looked down, marveling at the thousands of tiny micro pumps and pads that made up Arcee's lips and soft warm mouth., suckling her ever so gently and coaxing her nipples to even finer points.

She traced the lines of Arcee's pretty face, Arcee with her eyes closed and moaning as she sucked and licked June's nipples.

June had never experienced such a sensation of having an erogenous zone stimulated on a microscopic level. Not before she discovered sex with a Transformer.

With machine perfect precision Arcee adjusted to the minute changes in June's arousal almost before she felt them herself. It was like Arcee was licking the next perfect spot each time with incredible results. June felt herself already moist down under her panties. Arcee began to alternate from one nipple to the other, reaching up and gently holding June's breasts together a little. She smothered them with kisses, cherishing them in her long smooth hands.

June gasped as waves of pleasure washed down through her from her breasts. She drank in the sensation of having someone kiss them, magnified by Arcee tenfold.

"Oh God, I love that." June sighed, cupping Arcee's face with both hands. Arcee broke away, opening her eyes and straightening up to bring her own bare breasts forward. _Her _nipples were _always_ erect, the soft sensors glowing a warm pink from the center of her silky, light blue bio-fabric breasts. Personally engineered by Arcee when she became a sexual being, with feedback stimulus from her sexual protocols, she literally felt soft to the touch. June adored them.

The two women spoke not one word as they cupped their own breasts and leaned towards each other to brush their nipples together back and forth.

Arcee groaned and bit her lip. June's frowned a little in concentration, unable to hold back a gasp herself. Back and forth they teased each other, June's smaller dark nipples flicking across Arcee's pliable shining pink ones.

"Uhh!" Arcee gave up with a small bark and shuddered, letting go of her tits. June giggled happily and reached out to run her hands across them now. They were soft, and warm and she loved the feel.

"I win." She said lightly as she caressed them.

"You always win." Arcee replied with a sigh and a smile, her long fingers reaching under them both undoing June Darby's jeans. June permitted herself to be stripped, Arcee casually sliding her jeans down off her hips and tugging them down as June now closed her lips around Arcee's exposed nipple, leaning into the welcoming heat radiating from her living machine body.

Arcee's sweet little blue milk trickled into June's mouth and she sipped it gratefully. She too knew the effects of this bio-engineered sugar bi-product Arcee produced from her coolant that she turned into bodily fluids for love play. It was intoxicating to feel it's soothing taste in her mouth, vibrant and refreshing, smooth and sweet and warm like honeyed milk.

It didn't help that Arcee had her stepping out of her jeans, running her slender fingers up and down June's shapely leg and looking down to watch her nurse.

"I like the panties you've picked out." Arcee suppressed a shudder, her own breasts bringing her pleasure center alive in bright pink spikes of arousal. She never had bothered to lessen the stimulus. The feeling was as raw as ever and she loved it, seeing June kissing and licking the soft pliable sensors that were her nipples.

Arcee was caressing June's hips with just two fingertips now, rubbing out small little cramps and hidden tension in a deeper way than any massage could have. A warm little spot of moisture had formed in the center of June's panties over the outline of her sex.

June broke away and pressed her own breast's back in again against Arcee's, continuing to knead them in her hands as she looked up, her head back, eyes lidded and heavy with desire. Arcee leaned down for a kiss, the second they shared tonight, at the same her two fingers slid up under the waist band of June's panties.

Gently she pulled them taught around June's waist and lifted up slightly, pulling June's own panties up against her excited pussy, the soft satin making her shudder from how it felt against her lips.

June's eyes crinkled with a smile as she continued the kiss, chuckling with her lips pressed to Arcee's, who started giggling in return.

Then Arcee took her thumbs and snapped her fingers, snipping off June's panties as neatly as a scissor.

June's arms came around her Arcee's neck at that, and Arcee slid down a little while lifting June up over her breasts with both hands, reclining so that she cold hold June up on her more fully. June's panties fell away and she continued to kiss as long as she could as together she and Arcee brought her up over Arcee's chest to sit there, her knees sitting comfortably on Arcee's shoulders with her firm little butt cheeks snuggled up against Arcee's tits.

"Okay?" Arcee asked softly as she lay back, getting comfortable and looking up.

"Yes." June smiled, delighted, her eyes twinkling. Both women kept their voices low and soft, the sexual tension around them like a warm blanket. June straightened up a little, taking hold of the pillar above and behind Arcee's head with both hands, making ready. Her smile was dazzling and her eyes were sparkling.

"You're still wearing your hat." Arcee giggled and June reached up a questioning hand.

"Leave it on! You look adorable." Arcee purred, going back to caressing June's hips and slender waist with her fingers.

Here is where the pretenses of gentle love play began to dissolve. June felt a rush of excitement course through in how she was sitting naked on Arcee's chest. It started deep down in her stomach like a stab of adrenaline and her heightened sex drive felt super charged. Her skin felt hyper sensitive and she was breathing faster, riding the rush, every little fine hair on her body standing on end. She had goose pimples now and she loved the closeness of Arcee's face between her legs. If anyone had seen them they would have known this meant only one thing was about to happen. June swirled her bare bottom a little against the soft seat of Arcee's bare breasts and Arcee's beautiful eyes were shining, cupping June's bare ass now not unlike she did that first night with Jack.

"So who do you need?" Arcee asked, starting the game.

"I need you." June answered.

"And what do you need?"

"I need you to taste me." June replied.

"Do you like it?"

"Yes."

"Do you want it?" Arcee reached up and ran a finger across June's nipple.

"Yes!" June squirmed, fighting to sit still.

"Are you a bad girl?"

"Uh huh!"

"What do bad girls wanna hear?"

"Something naughty!" June was rolling her hips, fighting for control.

"Do you want to know about when someone licked _my _pussy?" Arcee teased. June looked down at her.

_Here's that moment, isn't it June? _She heard herself in her head as she sat there on Arcee's chest.

Her chest was rising and falling fast and she thrilled at how she skirted around the edge of a taboo subject. She swallowed, her mouth a little dry and her lust soaring.

"If you want to tell me." She whispered and Arcee grinned wickedly.

"How about I show you?" Arcee's eyes glowed a deeper brighter blue. Behind June's back, Arcee had her own knees up now, her long, slender legs parted. Her bio-engineered pussy formed with a twinkle between her legs and a little sparkling trail of bright cum ran out of her in a soft drip to the carpet.

It glowed blue.

June refused to answer from where she sat. She bit her lip and shook her head violently at Arcee.

"Don't. Don't do that." She groaned.

"But you want to know, don't you." The hand that cupped June's ass was feeding stimulus up through June's skin. Her toes felt numb and she was almost dripping wet, hardly able to contain herself or think straight.

"You wanna know how it felt." Arcee prompted. "What he did to me."

June was gasping, her face tortured and flushed.

"Shall I show you? Hmmm?" Arcee purred.

"Yes!" June blurted out finally, grabbing her own breast with one hand, her eyes narrowed, her mouth open in lust.

Arcee wasted no time. She cooed silently as she brought her mouth up to June's hot wet sex and her strong tongue started licking her in long soft strokes against her lips, all the way up to her hard little clit. June moaned hard, titling her head to the side, squeezing her own breast even harder as she set her other hand on Arcee's helmet, steadying herself. Then Arcee's tongue penetrated her in one soft, warm, wet thrust.

June's went crazy. She barked out a cry, clenched down, and pushed forward involuntarily, hunching over and lost to the pleasure and unable to care at the moment how Arcee was teasing her about forbidden sex secrets with Jack.

"Show me! Tongue fuck me! Yes!" Her cries grew stronger as she pressed herself up against Arcee's mouth. She let go of herself and her hands shot out to grip the pillar, crying out with each wave of intense pleasure soaring up from between her legs and through her stomach, all the way to her breasts, and down her legs as well. June's numb little toes curled up, her knees clenched hard around Arcee's armored helmet as she rode her face.

The seems of Arcee's body glowed as she coaxed both of their sex drives to a peek, easily adjusting to June's rapidly increasing arousal and quivering sex, working her mouth and tongue inside her as she had against June's nipples. For June, Arcee's tongue always seemed to be right where she needed it.

But for Arcee the real prize was June's essence. Her taste. The vibrant healthy fluids of an adult human female in the prime of her life. The moment Arcee's tasted her and her body's core took it in and broke it down, the chemical rush and impending orgasm racing through her body felt subtly different and more vibrant than any brought on by Jack's secretions.

But the _real_ heat came from the full knowledge of what she was doing. What_ they _were doing. The forbidden. The new and exciting taboo. Modulating her body to June's and linking them closer than ever before was _nothing _compared to _that_ rush. And each moment of unbridled lust from June was five times as much for Arcee.

Arcee had taught herself well. She was a_ slut_ and she _knew_ it. Only now she welcomed it. Unnoticed by June, tucked snugly back in a section where two cross beams met up in the ceiling braces, a tiny little red lens glowed as it recorded everything.

Arcee smiled to herself as they continued.

With June's warm little pussy cupped entirely in her mouth, irresistibly, Arcee's tongue drove June wild as it reached places that made her groan with pent up lust. At just the right moment, with June moaning in wet heat against her mouth, clenching down on that incredible tongue hard, Arcee teased June subtly by shifting her head back a little and gently pressing her chin up against June's soft little asshole.

It was to much for Miss Darby.

"Oh fuck! Oh fuck, yes! Yes!" June screamed, squeezing her eyes shut hard, head thrown back.

"Ahhhh!"

Arcee had slipped two of her own fingers into her exposed pussy during all this, fingering herself strongly and purring as she ate out June's heaving little sex in return.

Now she brought her hand up to June, who turned and threw her arms around Arcee's wrist and immediately started sucking the clear blue fluid off her fingers greedily, sobbing and gasping. In the moment June orgasmed in Arcee's mouth, this triggered Arcee's own.

Arcee, muffled, could only moan deep in her throat, her hips involuntarily rising up off the floor and her pussy squirting hard. June ground her hips against her face, the tips of Arcee's two fingers pushed into her mouth, hugging her slender arm to her bare breasts as her pussy spasmed around Arcee's tongue.

Finally...they both broke contact, collapsing together with relief.

June reeled back with a gasp, thrusting her breasts up into the air. Arcee caught her easily though in one hand, cradling her, amazed even now that this was demure little June Darby of the plain ponytail and pretty eyes.

Arcee licked her lips and sat up a little. June hadn't opened her eyes, her chest heaving, breasts up, little beads of sweat dampening the dark hair at her temples. Arcee grinned and gently reach up to run a finger across her soft little breasts.

"More?" She asked.

"Nooo. No, I can't." June moaned, her arms hanging limply at her sides, shaking her head with her eyes still closed. Arcee sat up higher and ran her fingertips across June's breasts yet again.

"But you'll take more, won't you? Because that's not enough, hmm?"

June's much smaller hands came up and gripped Arcee's own.

"No, please." She moaned again, while pressing Arcee's hand against her breasts.

Arcee turned June in her arms, scooting back up to a sitting position completely.

"Look there." She said and June opened her eyes, turning to look down to her right and saw that Arcee had prepared a surprise. Somehow, incredibly, she had gotten their special case free of their backpack and had opened it. What was more she had slipped out the custom made vibrator she had gifted June with and had clipped it onto her waist, just above her own sparkling wet pussy. It pulsed with a soft blue glow and June could feel the heat. She sucked in her breath.

"Oh, no. No, I can't. Not again." She turned back to Arcee, sitting up, her eyes wide. Arcee leaned forward and kissed her, murmuring against her lips.

"Yes you can."

"No. No, I can't." June moaned, kissing her back with wide eyes.

"Yes...you can." Arcee broke the kiss and helped June step down off her lap to the carpet. June turned to face Arcee, standing between her knees with her hands clasped together over her bare breasts. She shook her head, staring at Arcee's attachment.

"You want to know ,don't you?" Arcee began again, sitting back on her hands. "You like being teased about him."

"No. This is wrong." June groaned.

"You already want more."

"No."

"You do. I can tell." Arcee reclined there, showing June what was in store for her. It was her turn to roll her hips suggestively, their private attachment jutting out strongly in the open now. They didn't have to hide it and they both wanted it.

Somehow this felt heady, powerful, and June's mock anxiety enticed her. Even now she shook her head again but her eyes never left Arcee's 'cock'.

"You know you want to. Let me show you how it felt."

June looked up, dropping her elbows and squeezing her hands together in front of her waist, wavering and dying to reach out for it.

Arcee's slow seductive smile spread across her face.

_Yesss._

**ooo**

It was a good thing after all that they had that null field.

They needed it.


	6. Stormclouds

**The storm grows**

"And do you want to tell me just _how_ you broke your arm?" Arcee paced around the med table, her arms crossed and clearly fuming.

Jack didn't answer, he just turned to watch Ratchet securing the exo-frame into place. Ratchet looked up, flustered, and answered for him.

"It's a clean break. He'll be one hundred percent in no time. And for that matter, with this new exo-frame holding his bones in place he'll be stronger than he realizes."

"That's _not_ what I'm asking!" Arcee stopped, her fists at her side.

Jack ignored her.

"How strong?" He ask quietly. He was clearly curious and his dismissal of Arcee made her furious. Ratchet looked back down at him.

"Well...well don't 'high five' anyone or some such thing. And watch your own body. The pressure sensors should recognize your own bio-signature but you could wring your hands and accidentally crush your own fingers. Or knock on a door and snap it in half." Ratchet, distracted by Arcee's fury, made a few more adjustments. He looked thoughtful.

"Perhaps we should take it off and send you to a human hospital. I have enough problems around here without your mother..." He went on.

"No. No, I'll keep it." Jack said, raising up his hand and studying the black titanium rods and hydraulics. "I'm not a kid anymore, doc. Besides, to reset it again at the hospital would hurt like hell. I'll be fine."

"Well of course you'll be fine! Just...just be more careful.." Ratchet grumped and standing up he gathered up what small tools he had used and turned back to Arcee and Jack. "I don't want to have to explain things to your mother. That's your department. Now if you don't mind I need to tend to...other matters." and he walked past Arcee for the exit.

Arcee waited until the door slid shut behind the old Autobot medic and then she turned to Jack, her arms crossing again.

"Well?" she said in an icy tone. "What have you been up to?"

"Oh, so you're interested now?"

"Don't talk to me like that." Arcee warned but Jack sat up and dropped his legs over the edge of the exam table.

"Don't talk to _me_ like that, either." he growled as he sat up. "What's it to you, anyway?" he glared back at her

"Jack, what the hell is your problem?"

"You are. Ok? Does that register? Is the signal clear?" He went to hop down to his feet but when he gripped the table edge it dimpled with a metallic pop and he looked down in surprise at the small hydraulics encasing his hand.

"Gawdammit." He sighed. Hadn't had this thing on his arm for even a minute and he was already breaking things. Ratchet would have a fit.

"He told you to watch out!" Arced spat.

"It's just a little dent." he looked up at her.

"Boy, you're really are something lately. What do you mean _I'm_ the problem?" She put her hands on her hips.

"You should talk. Do you even hear yourself, Arcee? You got a lot of nerve demanding _anything_ of me." he looked up at her.

"What does that mean?"

"Knock it off. I know you're not that stupid. Frankly you've _really _been taking advantage of my laid back ways lately. But a month is even to much for me." Jack stood up and went over to the chair where his dusty and travel stained gear was piled up. Everything but the RPG and camo suit, which he had nearly passed out getting his broken arm out of so he could hide it in his quarters. Still, he knew there would be questions later from the old medic. Maybe even Prime. And mom. But for now he didn't care about that. He had some questions of his own and didn't feel like answering Arcee's.

"How many times do I have to ask you to make sense?" Arcee interrupted his thoughts.

"As many times as I have to tell _you_ I'm not buying this dense routine." he didn't look up as he untangled his gear harness.

"Did you just call me dense?"

Jack sighed. "Where are you picking this shit up?" he asked, turning to face her. "TV or something? Until you stop standing there play acting your ignorance, we've got nothing to say to each other."

"Hey, I'm not the one who won't explain a broken arm! In two places!"

Jack hefted up his things and walked towards the door without a word.

"All right, all right, calm down." Arcee frowned and stepped around in front of him. "Is this about me not being around so much?"

"Oh thank you for that omission, _finally_."

"Come on, Jack. You wanted to talk, then fine. But I'm not gonna stand still for a lecture."

"For fuck sake, you _really_ got it backwards, you know that?." He laughed dryly, shaking his head in disgust.

"You can't notice that I'm angry with you about being absent lately, _and _a lot more than that I might add, and then tell me you're _not _gonna hear me out?"

"Fine! Say what's on your mind! You need to chew me out while doing it? Go ahead!"

"What for? You won't listen either way."

"So now who's talking in circles?"

"No more mind games!" Jack shouted, as angry as she had ever seen him. And he _truly_ was angry with her now, resenting how she reacted with this high school drama to their relationship troubles and how she was deliberately muddling the issue, avoiding it. Or worse, not caring. This decided him on the spot.

"Get out of my way!" And he _meant_ it. He didn't care right then and there if they ever spoke again and his anger was deep and thick.

Startled, Arcee did step aside but then she took three longer steps and palmed the door lock, the one five feet above Jack's head.

"Knock it off, Arcee. Open the door."

She turned back to him, her eyes blazing.

"You're not just walking away from _me_. You want to talk to me like that? Get it over with. But you're about to cross a very dangerous line."

But Jack _didn't _back down. He wasn't the stammering teenager anymore and they had been sexually involved for eight months. He had some rights here and wasn't about to be brow beaten like the little boy wonder. Being threatened with a relationship he was willing to fight for, made him even angrier, although his instincts told him _this_ argument was about to turn into a_ fight._

"You want to escalate this into some kind of break up? Huh? Is that what you want?" He startled her, taking a step towards her. His heart hurt him but he was also furious. Maybe more so. "At least _fighting_ with me your finally acting like my girlfriend again." he whirled and walked back over to the chair.

"So it _is _about the lack of me or the lack of sex?." She took her hand off the lock as Jack walked over and dumped his gear back down. She didn't see him roll his eyes.

"Knock it off." He grumbled as he piled up his gear and stood there glaring across the med bay.

Arcee softened a little.

She came up behind him and set her hands delicately on Jack's shoulders, leaning down with a leering smile behind his ear.

"I haven't been putting out, is that it? You're such a typical _guy_." She teased in a sweet voice. She would have tickled him if his arm hadn't been broken and she decided to humor him and ask questions later. "I'm a bad girlfriend. But now you've got to watch out, what with that powerful _hand _and all."

Her bad joke didn't work.

He shrugged away from her hands with a disgusted snort and walked back over to the table. "That's not funny in the least. And if you tell me to 'make sense' or claim you don't understand what I'm talking about one more time..." He turned to her, his face deadly serious.

Arcee blinked, wisely thinking before she spoke. Bit it wasn't easy fighting her own hot tempered and stubborn will, _or _having to swallow her defensive resentment of criticism. She pursed her lips and dropped her hands, walking over and sitting down on one of the huge steel crates the Autobots used as chairs now and then. This one was filled with medical gauze and sterile eye wash.

"All right then." she answered, dropping all pretenses and silliness.

Jack studied her, gathering his thoughts.

"Do you want to break up?"

"No."

"Is there something wrong?"

"No."

"Have I _done_ something wrong?" Jack went on.

"No! I thought this was about what _I've_ done wrong."

"Part of being in a relationship is knowing when you're wrong and knowing when to be selfish." Jack stared at her.

"You sound like Optimus."

"You going to start again, or hear me out?" he flared up.

"Ok! Ok, I'm sorry."

Jack leaned against the table.

"Where have you been, Arcee?" Some of his pain showed through.

"Things have been busy lately."

"Oh. Busy. Really."

"Missions, operations. There's always more to do than there are people to do it. You know that!"

"I know in the last month there have been eleven days of operations and three night missions and we've been together only four times." The next part made his stomach hurt.

"There were no missions the six times you've disappeared at night, either. And then there were many more nights I was _here_ and you didn't even come to our quarters."

"Are you keeping track of me?" Arcee frowned.

Jack took a deep breath.

"I'm not being an asshole about this. I've respected your privacy and even how you might have needed some distance. But there comes a time where I have the right to ask 'Hey, what about me' ? I'm not sixteen anymore. To someone as old as Ratchet, three human years is nothing, but _you_ know better. I'm said I'm not a kid anymore and I'm not playing. And seeing as how you don't have a lot of experience with human relationships I'll overlook this infuriating way you keep acting."

"Oh, but not my being absent?"

"I'm your boyfriend aren't I? I have a right to know."

She scoffed, hurting him.

"Arcee, what is this? You're not giving me anything. Everything changed over night! Is this some kind of phase? One night we're as hot and bothered as ever and the very next night, I mean the _very_ next night, you're rocketing away from me like a meteor."

"So it _is _the sex, huh? Or more of your vaunted experience?" she tossed her head back, actually managing to look wounded. But Jack stayed on his point, holding his temper. His anger was deeper and colder than hers. In fact, he saw right through hers. If she had been paying attention she might have noticed his deep resignation at that moment. He sighed.

"Yeah, that's right, just stay in denial then. Stay above reproach. Play dumb. But you're _going _to hear it even though you insist on acting like a spoiled bitch."

You could have heard a pin drop. She slowly turned to stare at him.

"Did you just call me a bitch?" There was a chill in the air you could have cooled lemonade with but Jack was tired and confused and sad and the totally opposite way Arcee was responding to his pain and upset left him feeling strangely distant and discarded. So the words just fell out of his mouth and he didn't care.

"If the spark fits, wear it. If I didn't know any better I would say you're cheating on me." At this point Jack _did_ misjudge Arcee's true temper. The temper that made her a survivor and a soldier capable of making the hard decisions. The temper and deep seated resentment that made her vendetta with Airachnid go on for millennium. And even though he didn't know it, the temper that made her guilt turn into rage.

She hopped off her own seat, landing with fists at her sides and her eyes blazing with blue fire.

"You. Little. Bastard!" She spat. "You over-rate yourself if you think you can go gallivanting away to play _your_ little games, break an arm, and then grill me about what _I_ do with_ my_ time. You're not going to verbally pin me down and spank me because you think you're irreplaceable."

Jack was horrified but his face was impassive. Somehow, as is want to happen in relationships, common sense gets twisted and people loose sight of what they mean to each other. Then the raw hurt and accusations start getting stacked up one on top of the other in a game of no compromise and misconstrued points until the whole thing comes crashing down and the two people start aiming to hurt.

He just shook his head at the surreal way this escalated so quickly, his own bitterness _and_ Arcee's hurtful rejection of the obvious.

"Good ahead and rationalize it. I don't even know who you are anymore." he said blandly.

"Spare me the cliche!" She spat.

"You want to see a cliche, go look in the mirror."

Arcee screamed and flew at him, her fist high and slamming downward before he could even blink. She smashed the table next to where he was leaning on it, bending it right over with a slam of steel that made his ears ring.

Despite himself, his arm came up and he shied away from her, but he kept his footing and scrambled back away from her instead. She thrust her face at him, leaning towards him, opening her fist and dragging her fingers over the crumpled table with a screech of steel.

"And if you want answers, go ask your mother! Don't come crying to me with a hard on!" She snarled strangely. Then she tore away from him, the seams in of her body blazing with blue light as she stormed for the door, unlocked it, shot him a final glare and then she was gone, off down the hallway...leaving him stunned in her wake.


	7. Unspoken need

**Unspoken Need**

June Darby lay back on her bed with a deep sigh. All she wore was a loose black tank top and matching lace panties.

_It's refreshing to just lay around. Careless and carefree._

At least, that was what she was _telling_ herself she was doing.

Ironic that some time ago she had been a little despondent at the dull pace of her life. Now? With all the monumental things that happened in less than a year? She felt that she barely recognized herself anymore.

Had she really _done _all those things? Had she really said all that she had said? And acted like...

_No. No, don't. Stop it. I just need to...stay home and forget. I really do. Come on, June, think of something else._

She was trying.

In fact, as she lay there, she was _desperate_ to. Now she _wanted_ to be bored as she had been in the old days.

_I guess I deserve this. Somewhere I lost my peace of mind in the name of pleasure._

On this day, boredom called out from the past for June Darby like an emotional anchor. From a time when she at least knew who she was. And what she was all about.

Like being home alone. Where she could lay around half naked. Sleep in, and then go barefoot the rest of the day. Take a bath with the door open, shave her legs, do her nails and the like. The kind of things that meant she at felt atpeace at home...if not so much in her heart.

And to think she once wanted so much more.

_Well, you got what you wished for, honey. Look at you now. _She brushed some hair out of her face, her eyes troubled.

_ There I go again. Stop it! Today I need a break._

June rubbed both hands over her face suddenly and sighed, raising her arms above her head and staring back at the bedroom ceiling..

**ooo**

Earlier, by will alone, she had shut out the outside world and had been going around forcing herself not to _think_ ever since. Forcing herself to be lazy and eat ice cream out of the carton, watch TV, shop online...anything. Trying to recapture that old normalcy that fluttered around at the edges of her mind.

But her_ libido_ being what it was, meant that she was _still _mercilessly, and extremely, horny.

Determined not to get into anymore trouble, thanks to a growing sense of guilt as of late, June fought against her impulses all day long while still trying to satisfy her needs.

What she came up with was a method for exciting herself.

Almost like foreplay masturbation. The way she dared to go around naked, or even half dressed like she was, made it kind of fun. And helpful too, because it was familiar. Just like she used to do. And like before, even though no one could see her and she had all the blinds drawn, the 'freedom' of it felt titillating.

It worked in it's own way, this way of showing herself off _to _herself.

Kind of like the little games people play with themselves. Like dancing in the mirror when no one is watching or singing in the shower. The private things that would embarrass a person forever if someone caught them at it and yet they kept such things close to their hearts.

And since June couldn't rightly go slut it up and made a day for herself at home instead, she play acted in just that way.

Why not _act_ slutty? Why not empty her closet and dresser drawers of everything sexy she owned and try it all on?

_Even if it means masturbating ten times today, at least it keeps me from acting out. Keeps me __home. _

And while she was at it, remove anything that could _make_ her think about things. That was why the box with her favorite silk dress was down the hall in the washroom up on a shelf. That was why her 'toys' were somewhere even better. A safe deposit box at the bank.

Suddenly she hopped up off her bed, kicking piles of lingerie and tight tops out of the way and skipping down the hall to the kitchen.

"Hi everybody, is the coffee hot?" She said to no one, twirling in a circle, her arms up and her hands behind her head..

"Oops! Sorry everyone, I just plain forgot to dress!" She said dramatically, holding a hand to her chest as she turned and opened a cupboard. She had been snacking all day and didn't care. No jogging for her today!

She took out a box of pop-tarts and turned back around to address the empty bar stools and four chairs sitting around the dining table.

"What's that? Oh!" And she sat the box down and turned around, rising up on her toes and thrusting her butt out. "You mean that?" she smiled. And then she tugged her panties down, wiggling her butt, and letting them drop to the floor, kicking them off over by the sink.

"Or this?" She turned back around now and running her hands down her flat stomach she pulled back slightly on her sex, showing off her lips and the tiny protrusion of her clit.

"Is that what you meant? Hmm?" She looked up before taking the box back up. On impulse she backed up and scooted her butt up onto the counter, taking a seat and popping the box top open. She took out a packet.

"You want to see _more_? Oh, you little devils." She said lightly, setting the box down and lifting her legs up, leaning back. She sat her feet on the counter's edge as she made herself comfortable, her knees high and apart, fully exposed and sexy enough to make a blind man sweat.

"Would you like to take a closer look?" she went on, narrating to herself, as she tore the foil wrapper open and bit off a pastry corner, immersed in how she felt on display. She hugged one arm across her stomach and looked down for a moment, holding the pop-tart to the side in her free hand before she reached down and flicked a corner of it against her exposed pussy lips.

She was quite wet.

She looked up again at the empty table and chairs, raising up the pop-tart and biting off that part.

"Yes...I do taste good." June slipped her hand down and deliberately worked a single finger into herself a little ways. She nibbled and sat there, staring at nothing between her knees and daydreaming.

_I'm fingering myself in the kitchen _she told herself.

_Fingering myself next to the boxes of cereal._

Suddenly, as happened frequently in her game today, a tiny surge of foolishness spoiled it for her and she slipped her finger out and dropped her feet, dropping down to the floor and still nibbling her snack.

She sighed inwardly, but she wouldn't give up. She set the pop-tarts aside and poured herself some water, already planning her next outfit to feel sexy in and that was when she spotted the banana.

June let out a small huff of laughter and reached over and tapped the fruit bowl with a knuckle.

"You couldn't handle it, mister." She said, eyeing the spotted yellow fruit already going to brown mush. She raised her glass and drank.

But then an idea hit her, one she was surprised she had never had before, and setting the glass down she stepped over and slid out the utensil drawer, looking for the round hard white end of a particular spatula handle.

"Got it." she pulled it free with a clatter and pushed the drawer shut with her hip. Now she couldn't _help_ but think about some things. And remember. All day today, the reason she was forcing herself back into some semblance of normalcy was rather involved. And also rather simple. She had been coming back to her senses lately. In a small way. And each depraved moment with Arcee had added to her secret shame. At first it had seemed ideal and she rationalized it easily, but here in the quiet of her home, she could admit the truth.

All she did with Arcee was answer the body. As for the rest of it? It hadn't developed like she had thought. Had hoped. There were times she needed a girlfriend. When she needed to cry and talk about nothing and everything and just empty her heart out. Or be told she was pretty. To feel wanted, not lusted after.

But Arcee would burn it all away the moment they were together, the attraction to her over-powering. How she would just tug June's jeans down and start licking her...

_Stop it._

From the beginning, in her over powering lust, it had been easy to go along with it, but now?

At a loss all the more so, and with no one to go to, June was on her own again and trying to work it all out.

So today she tried to just not think about it. And she was compensating in what ways she could.

_I won't think about Arcee. I won't. I'll use something else. That's right, something else. That other thing is in a safe deposit box and the bank is closed, so there!_

June Darby had chosen her free day well.

"Mmhmm." she purred, forcing her mind back to the present and running her fingers up around the handle. "This is purrrfect, huh? Who needs an Autobot, huh?" she asked no one. Her smirk had an edge to it.

June Darby took her water and pop-tarts and walked back to her room, smacking her bare ass with the spatula.

**ooo**

Jack was getting close.

This time, he was more than glad to be coming home.

He needed some serious downtime. And time to think. Things with Arcee had blown up in his face and he had left within the hour of his fight with her. He didn't even know where she was and he didn't care. He didn't even want to bridge out. He wanted to leave things behind him. To go home. And the first step in doing so was taking himself there on his _real _bike.

Besides, he might as well get it over with, explaining his broken arm to his mother. Or at least make something up she would believe.

_What happened? Oh, you know, ambushing Vehicons. By myself. You didn't know? Yeah, like a hobby. Only my RPG misfired and this one got close enough to throw a punch that should have splattered me like a grape, if he hadn't missed. Why are you yelling, mom!?_

He wasn't clear yet on what he would say.

So he took the long way home, a nice casual ride this time. The cool, dry air felt good after a sweaty, angry day and he was looking forward to his own bed tonight.

He meant to phone, but he felt like staying quiet, so he didn't bother to stop and call.

Once in his neighborhood, he came up to the house from the back way in and coasted into the backyard, rolling to a stop by the shed.

"Fumes and fingers crossed." He smiled a little, noting his tank was nearly empty. He hadn't ridden this thing home in _months _and he would have to use some mower gas from the shed to even reach the station again. So what, it could wait.

What time was it? Five? He glanced up at the sky as he walked up the backyard. He used his keys and slipped into the garage. These days he and mom generally left it empty. For bridging purposes. The overhead had no windows so he wasn't even sure if her car was in the driveway. Maybe she was shopping. Didn't matter, he still felt quiet and beaten up and he meant to slip in through the backdoor in the way he _used _to move. Back in the old days when he stayed out late skateboarding.

_ No scent of dinner in the air. Maybe there's some cold pizza._

Better yet, he should order some if mom wasn't home yet. He closed the door to the kitchen soundlessly behind him.

He was three steps into the dining area, near the table and about to toss his keys down on it when he heard it.

Heard _her_.

A second later the sounds registered their meaning in his mind and Jack felt such a twist in his guts, he winced and hunched down.

_Oh shit! Is that? Is she? Oh, fuck, no way! Mom!? Really?! Omigawd, she is! _

He was a statue. He didn't move. He didn't dare. He didn't know what to do. His brain nearly shut down from the surprise.

June Darby's moans of pleasure were as normal as the next person who felt they had complete privacy while masturbating. But in the still afternoon of the house, with not even a TV going, they carried through the air.

And the blood rushed to Jack's face so hard he felt light headed for second.

_Fuck! Get outta here, dummy! Sneak back into the garage! Pretend you didn't hear. I don't believe this! Make some noise out back and call her phone! I'm going to be sick. I am such a dumb ass!_

Any second Jack felt his mother would hear his pulse pounding in his ears and his sudden, ragged breathing, so loud did they seem to him. He looked down at his own feet.

Still frozen.

Each second could spell disaster. It wasn't the fist time he had heard her...but it had been awhile. Things are what they are with a single mom and Jack used to stay up late playing video games after she went to bed. But not like _this_. Not of this caliber.

"Ohhh my God." June moaned and Jack squeezed his eyes shut as if this could blot out what he was hearing.

_Just step back and open the door! Slam it! Then throw your keys down!_

Jack looked back at the door over his shoulder and grimaced.

_Why didn't she hear me? Because she's masturbating, you idiot! I'm supposed to not even be within twenty miles of home tonight!_

"Yes." June gasped, followed by another soft, low moan that twisted Jack's chest up again.

_I need a heart attack. Right now. Please?_

"Ah. Ah! Ahhh!" His mothers cries built back up, louder now, in a rhythm as she changed pace.

Jack swallowed hard, his mouth dry.

_Why aren't you moving!? What are you doing!? You sneak around to hunt Vehicons and NOW you freeze up?_

Jack realized that a part of him was fascinated and he swore at himself in his mind.

_Don't be an asshole! Don't be a pervert! What are you doing?_

_Listening. Like I used to. I'm...I'm listening. Like before. Just for a moment._

Yes, he wanted to hear and he knew what it meant. He also knew how it felt to not get any from Arcee for a month. He knew the state he was in and he couldn't help himself. And deep down he was a little hurt and feeling sadistic.

"Fuck me, honey. Fuck me, baby. Yes! Yes!" June groaned and Jack blinked. He stood straight up, shoving his keys into his pocket.

_What in the unholy fuck?! Who the fuck is she talking to?!_

"Yes honey, please. More!"

Jack wasn't sixteen anymore and surprisingly his Darby temper dusted itself off and kicked in unexpectedly, lurking way back in the corners of his mind, quite selfish and stupid.

And out of touch.

The petulant little boy from childhood rushed up just behind his eyes and demanded attention, hot and jealous. And not stopping long enough to realize that _none_ of this was his business, all Jack could focused on was one thought:

W_ho the hell is in my house?! _

Someone else! Perhaps being so covert with the Autobot's all these years left him a little paranoid and easily threatened in ways that he could hardly make sense of at the moment. And usually those that sneak around are always a little suspicious themselves. He was three steps _further_ into the kitchen, his exo-frame fist coming up threateningly, when he managed to stop himself.

_Waitwaitwait! What are you doing, for fuck sake?_

June was into it, her masturbation very heated. He listened to the sound of her, all that much more closer to her room. Ten paces down the hall was her bedroom door. It had to be open.

The door. A few more steps and he would be able to see.

_See what?! The door, just the door! What am I doing? It doesn't sound like she's with someone. It doesn't sound like sex. No sex. No sex. No sex. She's just...she's just..._

_ I wanna see._

_ No you don't!_

He turned, panicked, looking around the kitchen.

_What am I, fifteen again?_ _What am I going to do? Scare the fuck out of her once she's done?! Jack, you fucking idiot!_

And that was when he caught site of what he thought he was a hand towel on the kitchen floor, over by the sink.

**ooo**

June's libido sucked back into her body so hard, it's a wonder she didn't pass out.

One moment she was heavy into herself, one hand locked around a breast, the other gripping the wide end of the spatula with it's tough plastic handle right up inside her between her legs. Her knees were up and open and she was thrusting the implement wetly inside her, reveling in her own delicious, dirty behavior.

And in the next second this was the most horrible, exposed, _nightmarish_ place she could possibly find herself.

A door slammed and Jack's keys hit the table with that loud sliding 'clink' they made when he tossed them on top of it.

Her eyes snapped open, her jaw dropping in absolute shock. Right to the core.

_OhmyGodNoOhfuckHolyshit! _

"I'm home!" He called out.

She rolled to her feet, slipping her improvised toy free and dropping it as she flung herself at the door. June's parental reflexes were rusty. Her recovery time was to slow. And all she could think of was that she _had_ to get her bedroom door shut.

The slam reverberated through the whole house. She leaned against it with both arms, completely naked but for her messed up ponytail, breathing hard and squeezing her eyes shut even harder.

_Oh. My. God!_

Down the hallway, Jack slowly leaned against the corner of the kitchen wall heading down the hallway to the bedrooms. He had expected the door to slam and it sure had. He knew what was expected of _him_ though, and _his _reflexes were up to the task. Finding it easy to pitch his voice as neutrally as possible, as if he knew nothing of what had been transpiring...while standing there holding his mother's lacy black panties in his hand.

He had picked them up off the floor by the sink.

"Mom?" he called out, doubting that even Megatron could have gotten that door open at this moment.

"Jack!" June called out. She was shaken. He could tell. The expression on his face was blank as he stood there, staring down at her bedroom door.

She cleared her throat. "Wha-what are you doing home?"

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine!" she answered a little to quickly.

"Is something wrong?" he asked again.

"No! No, I'm fine...you just scared me is all."

Jack stood up and walked down the hall, and June was easily able to identify his coming. She bit her lip and turned her door lock with a click. Jack stopped.

"Are you all right?" He asked and June could see the shadow of his feet just on the other side of her door, down at the bottom.

"Honey, I'm fine. I just didn't hear you. And...and I'm getting dressed." She cast around for something, all her clothes in loose piles everywhere. She settled for her blue sleeping shorts just at the corner of her dresser and grabbing them up she hurriedly pulled them on.

The hallway was quiet and she could tell he was still standing there. She fixed up her ponytail, looking around for a t-shirt, painfully aware her nipples were two hard points.

"Mom, who were you talking to?" He said in a low tone.

June froze and covered her mouth. Did that mean what she thought it meant? Had he heard her!?

"Wh-what do you mean?" she asked, stepping near the door and pulling on a baggy old gray t-shirt.

"I heard those sounds." He said through the door as she flicked her ponytail out the back of her neckline.

"What?" she laughed half-heartedly, tugging the shirt down around her waist.

"Those sounds." He said. Jack surprised himself, changing his mind abruptly and letting the cat out of the bag.

_ I heard those sounds._

Not _some_ sounds. Not _some noise_. Not _something weird_.

_I heard those sounds._

For June and Jack Darby, and no one else in the world, those sounds meant a certain secret that they pretended didn't exist.

June's legs felt weak and she put both her hands flat against the door again, dropping her head low and shutting her eyes as she leaned against it.

Not now. _Not __now__._

A long moment passed. She caught her breath as Jack just stood there.

"Jack...just go away." She groaned a little, reaching up and covering her eyes with one hand.

"I understand, you know." he said. What in the world was this? She couldn't believe her ears!

"This is something I am _not_ talking about with my son!" she fired the words off like a drill sergeant, lifting her head up and fuming.

"Why not?"

She gave a disgusted sputter and stomped a foot, straightening up and slapping the door, angry and embarrassed that she was caught masturbating. Again.

"That's enough of that! Go away!"

"You told me about you masturbating once before, remember?" he said. Much to calmly.

"Listen mister, I am not telling you anything _now._ Go away, dammit!"

She heard him go, heard the steps, and she leaned against the door again, pressing her hands and forehead to the cool wood. She was trembling.

"Jack!" She called once, pushing herself back up. She heard him stop, knew he was looking back at her door.

Jack looked back down the hallway, growing dim as the afternoon wore on, but he didn't switch on any lights.

"Jack, come back." His mother said quietly.

He did. He walked over, paused...and quietly turned to lean against the wall next to her door. From the sounds of it, his mother had turned around and slumped down against the opposite side of the door herself. All the way to the floor.

He did the same then too, pushing aside a small end table and sliding down himself. He ended up near the door handle, leaning his head back with a small sigh.

On the other side, June dropped her forehead in to her hand and grimaced, her eyes shut again.

"How long were you out there?" she said quietly, but she knew he could hear her.

A long moment passed. "Long enough. I'm sorry I startled you."

"What are you even doing _home_, honey?"

"I dunno...just felt like coming home." She heard the shrug in his words and frowned.

"Was it your intention to embarrass the hell out of me?!" Her voice flared up, her free hand balled up into a fist and she shook it once in the air.

"No. I didn't know you were home. I didn't know that _I_was coming home."

"Then why did you listen!?" she raised her head and turned to glare at the wooden door, demanding.

Another pause.

"I dunno." he answered.

June looked down, seeing the dim outline of brighter light under her door. Her room was on the southeast side of the house and her bedroom was growing dark. That was fitting. She wanted to bury her head in the sand and never come out again. She took a deep breath and counted to ten.

"It's not right that you listened." she heard herself saying. "You should have called."

"You've said you've heard _me_ before."

Why did he insist on arguing like that? Over things like this? I'm rubber you're glue, if you listen to me, I listen to you!

"That's different!" she barked.

"I don't see how." he replied mildly.

"Stop that! Why didn't you call!? Is it so fucking terrible I get some time to myself!?" she snapped, at a loss for an answer and elbowing the door a little.

"I know about you and Optimus." he announced simply.

Jack, his head still back, turned to look at that door, running his fingers through the carpet and waiting. This time, it was June who paused. Finally she spoke, her voice small.

"How?"

"Arcee and I reasoned it out." he replied.

He heard her make a disgusted sound.

"I know you don't want to hear her name right now, but we did." Jack lowered his chin and looked across the hall, tapping the trim board along the opposite wall with the toe of his boot.

_You have no idea how much I don't want to hear that name. _June winced on the other side.

"Is that why you've come home?" she asked.

"No, but it's been on my mind. I've known for some time at lot more happened than you let on with Optimus. Like I said, you talked about it that one time when you and Optimus had been away. About masturbating when you were on that road trip. It wasn't hard to figure it out the rest." Jack finished.

"Oh, that's just _great._" June replied.

"C'mon, you gotta know it was obvious." Jack studied the wallpaper between his boots, turning his head back to speak now and then. "You had to be worried about it. But did you think just because you _hoped_ real hard, no one would notice? That it would make it not so? Give me some credit." he looked back at the wall.

"Don't patronize me!" She snapped. "And credit for what? Finding out something juicy that was none of your business? So now you know. Fine. It's still results in embarrassing the hell out of _me_! Did you think about that? And what about just now!? And why would you come home and just announce that!?" she added in a rush.

"You misunderstand me. There are other reasons I know what I know."

"What are you talking about?"

"You're not alone in this. What you're feeling." He said.

A long, long minute passed.

"You and Arcee." His mother answered. It wasn't a statement. Jack didn't know it, but June was treading a minefield right now. He pictured her sitting there looking shocked and indignant but in truth her face was deeply troubled.

"For some time." he replied.


	8. Unspoken desire

**Unspoken Desire**

Jack and Arcee.

June _knew_ that already, but _he _didn't know that. She drew her legs up and hugged them, sitting there ruminating for so long, Jack called out to her. "Are you there?"

She shook her head sadly, staring off into the shadows."Where else would I be." she answered in a tired voice, the weight of everything catching up to her.

"Maybe you need someone to talk to. Maybe we both do." Jack went on. She had been wondering what to say next and how to say it, but at that her head turned sharply towards the door again.

"Why? What has everyone been saying?" Her voice had an edge to it. She was more than a little worried about it, since she was still wondering how much Jackactually_ knew._ It bothered her that she couldn't tell. Or guess how he would react. She had to be very careful here.

"Don't you want to ask me about how horny it's made me instead?" he asked.

"No! Come _on_, Jack."

"It's not a big deal to admit it." he quipped.

"Stop that! Just tell me who's been talking and what they're saying!"

"Nothing. No one. It's not like you think. Everyone knows something is wrong but they would never guess at the physical side of things. They wouldn't even _understand _the physical side of things, even if they did suspect it."

"Oh, and you do?" she added, relieved _some _things were still secret. In this mess, at least, Optimus was spared.

"Yes I do. And we kept it just to ourselves." He answered, sounding young. "Don't you trust me?" he asked.

_Yes honey, but you can't trust me_.

"All right. All right." she tried to wave him off, turning to back to stare into the shadows.

"Because knowing what I know and how I know it...I know you're _not_ with Optimus anymore." Jack went on.

"Oh, you can tell that about me, huh?" she sneered, without turning back.

"Yes dammit, I can!" He snapped..

"By listening to me masturbate!?"

"No, there's more to it." he insisted.

June sighed and tilted her head back to stare up at the ceiling.

"I really don't know what you're getting at, but just let things be, Jack." She said after a moment. "Let it keep settling down, honey. Let the Autobot's do their thing. I can take care of myself."

_Let it settle down. That was rich!_

"But what about..."

She flared up again."Why are you cornering me now?! Like _this_?!" her eyes flashed, raising up both hands in exasperation and turning to the door. She didn't want to talk. Now she just wanted to end this.

"I just know the fever you must be feeling."

"Fever?!" She switched, flicking her hands out in a warding gesture, trying to laugh it off. Trying to unbalance and embarrass him again. "It's just masturbation. It's not a big deal, remember?" She dropped her hands and waited for his inevitable reply.

"It's different once you've been with one of them, isn't it?" It was his turn to make more of a statement than a question. "You've been masturbating a lot more right? When you're not with one of them...you feel stir crazy, right?"

After a very long moment, June sighed again, and with finality she turned fully towards the door, tucking her legs up and leaning against it on one shoulder. She sat there thinking for some time.

"Yes." She finally answered.

"Is it...has it been getting bad for you?" he asked softly.

"I don't know if I want to answer that."

"Because I know how it makes _me_ feel. And I can only imagine what happened when you _stopped _seeing Optimus." he pressed on.

June shook her head and brushed some hair out of her face again as she stared at the floor where the light shined through on the carpet.

"Well?" He asked.

She flipped a hand in the air incredulously.

"Well, what? You heard me when you came in. It's all the time, ok? Every time I can _find _the time, because if I don't..." She let that hang in the air.

"I know what you're going through. This time, I really do." Jack said through the door. She got it immediately, what with his coming home unannounced and all. June's insides dropped to her toes and she felt a chill run through her for very different reasons than that of a embarrassed mother. Something she had suspected all along.

_Uh oh. _

Arcee. Had to be. She _was_ favoring June and neglecting Jack! June was right in the _middle _of that minefield now. She didn't see it, but in the hallway Jack lifted his other hand and stared at the exo-frame around his broken arm.

"Troubles with Arcee?" Juneforced herself to ask. _Had _to ask, her heart twisting up. Her mouth felt a little dry.

"Yeah, I guess so. Something's different. She was pushing the limits more and more every week that went by. Risky. Aggressive. More than usual." Jack turned his head back to the door. "Does it make you uncomfortable to hear this?"

June was glad he couldn't see her. Her mortification was absolute. There would have been no way she have kept it a secret any longer if he could have seen her face. And whatever he noticed in her voice he would chalk up to this extremely unusual conversation they were having. But she had an idea what he was going to say next.

"No, I'm not uncomfortable. " She managed, squeezing her eyes shut, clenching her hands together. Praying he didn't say what she felt was coming.

Jack managed a little laugh. "Some pretty fiery stuff. And I only say that because almost overnight...bam! We started drifting apart."

"How long ago was this?" his mother managed to ask.

"About a month."

June dropped her face into both hands.

Even through her all encompassing shame, there _was _a thought at the back of her mind. Even now. That she too had experienced Arcee's unpredictable ways. Maybe even to a greater degree. The sex was stellar and intoxicating but it was also different than with Optimus. Raw.

Yes, Optimus made her libido sore out of control and there may well be something to this chemical magnetism that had been brought up before. But was the difference just between Arcee and Optimus? Or something more? As far as she knew, Optimus was just Optimus. Only Arcee had willing modified her body for sex. And the bio-fluids. Those terrible, wonderful, delicious, intoxicating bio-fluids that made everything better...and worse.

As it was she hovered on the brink of being exposed, and quickly she put those thoughts away for later. She dropped her hands and looked up.

"What's happened?" she asked, as a mom.

"We had a fight. I've been dumped enough to notice the tricks. She want's to make it...I dunno, mutual? Turn my words back on me, you know? But she did a bad job of it."

"And?"

"And that's why it almost feels like she's cheating on me." Jack's voice came through the door. "So you see, I know how you feel when things...stop."

June's eyes went wide. Out in the hallway Jack was staring at the door, unmoving. June leaned away from it for a moment, staring at it, hardly breathing. Things suddenly felt...ominous.

"But now that you ask, there was something more." He went on. "Something she said. And she's disappeared six times. Without a word of explanation."

June pushed away from the door a little and sat back on her feet, bringing her hands up over her mouth.

"And when we fought about it, she said if I wanted answers I should ask my mom." he said quietly.

June bit her knuckle, the strangeness in Jack's voice chilling her.

"Like I said, I know the fever. So it's kind of strange she would say that, huh?" he prodded.

June knew this was the nexus of all the secrets and lies. Here is where she paid the price for all that had happened and had come to be. It was to late to worry about how she did it willingly, to late to put a stop to it. All she could do was a measure of damage control as a woman. Or a measure of damage control as a parent. What she didn't know was which one was the right choice, and which one might make her lose her son. Maybe there was no clear answer at all! To confess, she would have to face Jack and tell him everything and probably lose him. To lie or deflect his suspicions, if he _knew _she was lying to him, would be to lose him in a different way that would be just as bad.

Despite herself, all June could manage for her son was one line.

"That's silly." She stuffed a knuckle back into her mouth and stared at the door panel. How would he answer?

_Answer me, Jack. Answer!_

Twenty seconds went by. Maybe more.

"My worry is she might do something stupid." Jack said finally and June sagged a little with relief, her mind racing.

"She would never expose the team." she answered quickly.

"She might be out of control."

"Is that why you came to talk with me?" June switched out a few words with that one.

Came to _talk with me_, not _come ask me_. A neat trick.

"In a way, yes. She's been acting strangely and saying strange stuff. I didn't mean to bring this up until I...walked in like this."

"But why would she have me come to you?" Jack asked her. He was still on the scent and June winced.

"Jack, Optimus was very gallant about ending things with me. We never had a fight and we didn't have one when we stopped seeing each other. Our relationship was respectful and honorable. He never acted any differently. I'm afraid I can't help you with this because it sounds like things are different with Arcee. And it sounds like she was being a little mean." June went on, trying to help, not knowing what to do, dying inside as she continued the lie.

"That's what I was thinking." His voice betrayed nothing.

June said nothing. What _could _she say?

"So now what?" she asked, although she knew what _she_ was going to do. Her mind was made up. When this was over with Jack, _everything _was over.

Jack pulled his legs up, his own arms across his knees. Almost unwillingly he looked at the small black lace panties he held in his hand.

"Arcee teases me about you." he said suddenly, his heart skipping a beat. Perhaps his own loneliness brought him home. Perhaps he felt rejected and wanted to...wanted to what? Now that they were having this talk, did he mean to confront his mother with the deeper secret they shared? The special one? That summer night he had walked in on her, the flashing white legs and hasty covering up with her robe? One older than the one he now suspected her of having with Arcee? To punish her? Or because there was more to it? More to how the times June had acted a little racy around him? Showed off a little?

"What do you mean?" June frowned through the door.

"During sex, she..."

"Stop that." June said suddenly. "Why are you bringing _that_ up?"

_Oh no, Jack, don't say anything more!_

"Who were you thinking about just now when I came in?" he went on incredibly.

"Stop that!" she answered, her voice rising.

"Don't be embarrassed."

"Embarrassed isn't the _word _for it!" she snapped.

Jack turned a little towards the door.

"I didn't mean it that way. It's not that at all." he said, his chest hurting him, his heart pounding hard. "No one is laughing at you. When Arcee teases me about you during sex, I like..."

"Jack don't say it!" June cut him off quickly, horrified.

"Don't. Say. It." June warned, her voice deadly serious. She even held up a warning finger behind the door that he couldn't see.

He leaned his head back against the door jamb and sighed. Three full minutes passed. Behind it June felt like dying. It came rushing back to her all the dirty secrets Arcee had whispered to _her. _And her own sexual thrill at hearing them. _About her son_. And now she was terrified to hear him give voice to it himself. How _he_ felt about _her. _Sexually.

_You are such a hypocrite! _She squeezed her fists so hard her nails bit into her hands.

She felt horrible. Beyond horrible. But in her misery, her resolve strengthened. Her day alone had helped. Her growing guilt. Her worry. And now Jack himself. She didn't know what was going to happen but she felt a deep sympathy for her son just then and like the single mom she was, she blamed herself all the more for having it come to this.

Together they sat there on opposite sides of the door for some time. Jack staring at the wall and June with her head bowed, her hands in her lap and staring at the dim carpet. The line of light under her door felt like a spotlight. She didn't look up.

"I should make some coffee." Jack said, his voice tired.

"There have been some pretty lonely years around here, haven't there Jack?" June said instead, her small voice drifting through the door. At least she relented that much.

"Yes." He held up her panties, studying them.

On her side of the door, June was looking around at the shadows of her room again.

"I should have been more careful when you were younger." She murmured. "How I dressed. The way I acted."

He heard her but he had no answer. No more pretenses. Or pretend. At this moment the secret _was_ no secret.

June sighed quietly this time.

What would you say, honey, to know I am a complete slut? And the two women you look too have betrayed you? I have a secret when it come's to your precious Arcee that would make you hate me forever. And how do I tell you I know everything without _telling_ you everything? And now I hear she's been teasing you about _me_.

_Damn her, anyway!_

_And...and what would you say if you knew all those years ago a few times I made sure you did hear me? In my room at night. Was I crying then? Or moaning? And I let you walk in on me that one time. To tease you. To tease myself. I wanted you to look at me when I dressed in skimpy clothes. It was a sick little rush to feel sexy like that. _

_ Now everything seems so surreal._

_ And I can't let you say what I think you want to say, even after all the secrets Arcee spilled about you. She teased me about you in much the same way, that little bitch._

_ And I hate myself for it._

_ Your hypocrite slut mother._

"Who were you thinking about when you were doing it just now?" he asked..._again_.

She rose up onto her knees, pressing her hands back against the door, her horror complete. "I said stop that! I am _never _answering that!" she shouted and slapped the door. But then she realized that that could be an answer all in it's own right. She dropped her face into one hand. Another minute passed and then she cleared her throat and sat back.

"We are never going to talk about this again. Once this moment is over, that's it." she declared.

"What about how you've been left feeling?"

June slipped for a moment, a lonely, angry and defiant side of her bubbling up suddenly.

"What do you think _you_ can do about it?" she scoffed a little.

She _meant _to add more. She meant to tell him to mind his own business. To worry about Arcee. Something ironclad and mother-like. But she didn't. And June Darby, horny single mother addicted to pleasure, knew _exactly_ how her chopped off sentence sounded to her only son.

"Don't answer that!" she said quickly, lifting the hand back to the door again as if she was keeping him out.

"I'm not sure _how_ to answer that...but I wish you would let me." He sounded tortured, unable to finish.

What a nightmare, this tiny little thread of sexual thrill between the two of them.

Suddenly she remembered something. And June leaned towards the door with one ear, her mind replaying earlier events in her kitchen.

They were separated by just a medium priced, master bedroom door. Worth about a hundred bucks.

But June felt like she could see right through it.

"Jack, do you...do you have my panties? From the kitchen?" she said in such a low voice he almost didn't hear her.

He didn't answer...which_ was_ his answer.

Despite herself, June's nipples tingled.

Jack still said nothing.

"Honey...I think..I think you should go now." she said, her stomach cold and her voice pitched in such a way it gave her chills.

"Do you want these back?" His voice was thick and strangled and he actually managed to say it.

Some horrible part of her just couldn't let it go and she spoke once more as she heard him getting to his feet. Some part of her still thrilled at her son's dilemma and long unspoken desire. Something selfish. Something that wanted to stay in those thoughts of his. About her.

"No." Was all she heard herself say. "You keep them."

And Jack Darby paused once...and then walked away.

**ooo**

Did he know? Did he know about Arcee? Instead of pressing the matter, he had changed tactics and brought up the past. About him and her. The naughty little Darby secret. Mommy gets horny and pretends she doesn't tease the only man in her life. She acts like she's _not_ showing off going braless and wearing revealing clothes. Bending over at the waist, walking around in towels. Masturbating at night loud enough for him to hear.

And what did she go and do now?

_ Keep my panties. Go away without one answer or any comfort. Go away probably feeling more miserable and confused and rejected than you did before. Go away because I'm no help. Go away because a tiny part of me wanted to open this door. _

_ But keep thinking about me! In secret. And I'll keep pretending you don't. And when things with Arcee finally collapse, I'll understand you hating me._

**ooo**

For a while she heard him outside and then sure enough, there was the sound of his old bike...and the shed door opening and closing. And that was _definitely_ him pulling away.

She was back sitting on her bed by that point, still listening, feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders again. Weakly she lay back on her bed, her heart heavy.

_I told him to keep them. I am beyond horrible, I am some kind of fucking sex crazed pervert monster._

June started crying, feeling lost and alone and beyond miserable, hating herself as she lay there, unable to lie anymore today.

She was crying silently, hugging a pillow for some time, quite sure her son wouldn't be coming home that night.


	9. Midnight oil

**The midnight oil**

_ I remember the fountains of Antieron. There was a wonderfully ingenious irrigation and sub-light system that turned the energon falls a beautiful green as long as the conclave was in session. Bright were the days then. The whole medical sub sector congregating from as far as sixteen quadrants away to discuss everything from rust spots to scraplets._

_ Ah, what fine times. In those days we had nearly infinite resources. Everything to hound out the smallest burr on a gear, down to a micro-short in a sub processor. My old mentor could have cured Bumblebee in three micro-cycles. In fact, any one of his apprentices could have done it._

_ I could have done it._

Ratchet trod along through the base 'burning the midnight oil' as Jack Darby was want to put it.

In fact, the old medic had a tendency to stay up late and get up even earlier, eternally lost in his work. How did Miko put it? He acted like a grandpa? Napping during the day and getting up at three o'clock in the morning?

_Well! My sub-routines may be hard for someone to understand when that someone happens to have a permanent glitch in her adrenaline and attention protocols! I don't have the luxury of living for the 'rush'._

Someone has to re-energize the sub systems and warm up the processors. Turn up the lights and light the fires. 'Get the coffee ready' as it were.

He would never admit he had a sneaky fondness for human phrases. Not openly.

He picked them up from old films. Sometimes at night he would tune into the 'oldies' station and watch black and whites from what humans called a bygone era.

Bygone era. Ha! There were already bygone eras on Cybertron when Earth was still covered in sheets of ice and her oceans had predators the size of submarines.

Lately it was 'Flash Gordon'. Merely a novelty. An anecdote. He found it humorous that any _human_ could entertain such notions or achieve such lofty goals. Ridiculous that the science could be believed much less the acting.

...

Still, Ming the Merciless was set to blow up the sun next week and Flash would surely stop him. No harm in seeing justice prevail now, was there?

Although how he intended to stop the rocket while being tied to a speeding train was beyond Ratchet's imagination and worrisome indeed. He was looking forward to next week when...

**ooo**

As if almost embarrassed of his thoughts, Ratchet straightened up slightly and looked about, noting his walk had taken him far back to the supply cargo bays already. He cleared his throat and looked at his list, ever vigilant and running comparison scans versus what was actually on file. Two green columns scrolled down through his vision again and he pursed his lips thoughtfully as he keyed the door open to bay nine.

This is what he had been noticing lately. Right there. In the most odd category's, at the most sporadic times, with no real relation between the two, certain amounts of inventory would suddenly be short by a count of one.

And we weren't talking about the supplies meant for their human counterparts. No sense wasting energon counting toiler paper rolls, cans of soup and juice boxes. Well...he still _did,_ but that was beside the point! Those amounts were always in a state of flux.

These supply columns, on the other hand, were inventory of a kind strictly Transformer. Cybertronian. Manufactured and provided by the United States government under the strictest confidentiality. The means to fashion components for blasters, targeting sub routines, combat servos and the like. Not the actual items but the means to fashion them into a passable earth-side components to repair _other _components.

Nothing so elaborate as bio-magnetic organisms like spare t-cogs or what not, but still of a much more serious and valuable nature and therefore not so readily accessible.

There were no 'pitter-patter of tiny feet' in the night helping themselves to another piece of cake from the cafeteria.

Yet, this 'minus one' running in the red. Aggravating.

What was more the human armaments were kept here, under lock and key by Fowler, and those were very strictly accounted for.

What was truly infuriating was that when a visual check _did_ account for one less inventory, when he crossed checked his files sometimes the computer _insisted_ that that had been the amount all along.

And sometimes he would find extras. What sense did that make? And then the next day the number would be back to it's original. And sometimes the inventory would genuinely be one less and he would have to manually change the amounts himself. And sometimes all would be well.

Maddening! He had enough things to worry about without suspecting some problem in the computer. He thought of bringing Rafael in on this but it had only been in the last six weeks he noticed it happening now and then. And the boy was due to check the computer tomorrow. If he wasn't to busy he would have to remember to mention it to him. But still, his own professional stubbornness kept him counting and rechecking.

And perhaps he was worried he might finally be getting a little old and forgetful.

Ratchet wasn't so proud as to deny the possibility. But if this didn't clear up with the next shipment and Rafael's computer scrubbing, he would definitely look into further and mention it to Optimus.

In a way he already _was_ looking into it. He felt compelled to come back here and do a quick visual.

Better to check the armaments by sight. And the locks.

This bay was accessible by only one door, but had three consecutive rooms connected in a row. Ratchet brought the lights up and was moving to the next room, his eyes roaming over the security crates and combat gear their human counterparts used, when he noticed the next room's lights were already on.

And as he neared the door, the lights went _out_.

"What the devil?" He frowned, reaching up to key the door open. He was two steps into the room when Arcee loomed out of the darkness right in front of him.

"Ratchet!" She shouted, over loud to his ears in the quiet of the night.

His arms came up and old Ratchet gave a most undignified squeak of surprise before he registered Arcee's slender blue form. He nearly dropped his list.

Staring at her between his raised arms, she stood there with her hip cocked, staring at him with a blank expression. He lowered his arms.

"Arcee!" he sputtered.

"Doctor."

"What are...what are you doing back here."

"Just looking around. Didn't feel like powering down tonight and I just got back."

"Looking around the cargo bays?" He blinked at her, noting the large crates behind her, stacked high back inside the dark room.

"I've been stuck in vehicle mode all day, Doc. On a scout remember? I took a walk. Just like you." She stepped past him without another word and walked towards the door leading back out to the central hallway.

"Sorry I scared ya. Be sure to lock up huh?"

"Of course I will!" He blustered, his thoughts still scattered.

He watched her leave, noting nothing untoward about her. But why was she back here?

Then again, Arcee always was a little haunted. She bore responsibility well but sometimes she purposely took on to much of it whether someone asked her to or not. It made her a little grim and anti-social when she was in a 'mood'.

Not that she wasn't completely trustworthy. After all, any Autobot could palm open the lock to these rooms. They weren't off limits to them like they were the children.

Ratchet turned and flicked on the lights, continuing his visual check.

Nothing appeared to be disturbed and frankly now that he was back here, it seemed silly to worry about the miscount of servos and optic cables.

With a bit more determination to his step, Ratchet sped up his review and headed for the third door, forgoing checking the room completely as he went all the to the back wall.

It was here, in perhaps the deepest bay in the base, he had constructed what one could consider a 'vault'. A small room with a thick door that was layered in locks and security protocols more thoroughly than the main computer.

Ratchet knew them all by heart because he put them there.

And before he opened it, he turned and stared back towards the door he had come through.

Earlier, old Ratchet was thinking about black and white films from the nineteen thirties, now he was cross evaluating things as an Autobot Surgeon and what he knew of his people.

It wasn't exactly suspicion.

Maybe it was a 'gut feeling'.

_Wonderful turn of phrase, those humans have._

Sure that he was alone, Ratchet took a full forty five seconds to 'unlock' his way through, down to a single solitary door made of steel thicker than his wrist. It was hinged, but served more like a great plug of alloy and he had to put a little muscle into it to swing it open once the crossbars were disengaged.

A different kind of green glow met his eyes and the old medic laid his eyes on his greatest shame and failure since coming to earth.

His earlier ruminations came back to him about not having the _luxury to live for the rush _as he beheld the six tiny phials of synthetic energon. All that was left of the string he had manufactured those few years ago. An all around disaster! Shameful! Only Optimus's wisdom had kept him from destroying them, always perpetually hopeful of the future and unwilling to waste anything. But this chemical and it's properties were never again to be underestimated! Even now, Ratchet wished they would destroy them.

And that could only mean his shame still ran deep.

He frowned and reached out, adjusting one of the tubes ever so slightly in it's bracket.

And seeing they were still secure in their individual 'cigar tubes' of steel and styrofoam, Ratchet could bear their sight no longer and a little less carefully, he re-locked his way back up through the security protocols one step at a time.

_Why did I come back here? Why did I ever think I could come up with something worthy of the conclave at Antieron? Why did Optimus insist we keep it?_

Ratchet sighed, no longer feeling like watching any movies. He would get back to central and wake everyone up in two cycles. And then he would start another day. Counting pennies and keep things going on a 'wing and prayer'.

_Hmmph! And maybe get some _real_ work done._

_ Gut feeling, indeed...how about keeping my 'nose to the grindstone' instead of back here chasing my own shadow?_

He clicked off the light on his way out.

_Wonderful turn of phrase, those humans have._


	10. The Clouds Gather

**The Clouds Gather**

What do you mean you can't go? Work? - A

Yep! My shift is starting right now. - J

What about after? - A

Eleven hours. :( - J

Damn. Ok, well, I'll see you soon. - A

* * *

Have you talked with Jack lately? - A

Not lately. Why? - J

Nothing. - A

* * *

What do you mean you can't go? Again? - A

I don't feel good at all. :(:(:( - J

Ohh. How did that happen? - A

Probably some patient. I'm going to stay in and make some soup. - J

Anything I can do? Fluff a pillow? Eat you out? - A

No, it's ok. Really. :):):) - J

All right. - A

* * *

Have you talked with Jack at all? - A

Just about his broken arm of all things. - J

What did he say? - A

Not much. Pretty infuriating really. - J

Tell me about. We'll talk later. - A

* * *

Delete these messages, yeah? - A

Every time :):):) - J

Aren't you going to ask when I'm coming over? - A

I figured you were busy. - J

Yeah, ok. - A

* * *

Super horny. - A

I know :):):) - J

Are you? - A

Yes. - J

I might be able to come into town tonight. - A

Oh, I am so tired tonight. I'm so sorry. :(:(:( - J

Arcee? - J

Arcee? - J

Are you there? - J

(**Text messaging has been currently disabled 00:12.35**)

* * *

Again? This is like the sixth time! - A

lol It's only been five. - J

Good thing you're keeping count - A

:P:P:P - J

I hate those silly little symbols you use. - A

Come on., they're cute. :( - J

What is it this time, then? - A

I just can't. - J

What's going on? - A

Nothing, I just can't. - J

Whatever. - A

* * *

June blew her lips out and lowered her phone.

Maybe a teenager would be better at this but in less than a week she had used up all her excuses. Now she heard the inevitable 'whatever' and knew Arcee wouldn't be put off for much longer.

Then again, Arcee was never able to get away five times in one week before, either. There was another time she dialed into June's phone and they talked for a bit and June had to make up something then, too. It helped to say that _she _couldn't always get away so many times. But then there was the law of averages and five times was to many times in a row to be telling Arcee 'no' anything.

Now she could tell, even through text, that Arcee was getting impatient, disgusted and maybe a little angry.

And _that_ was a little ominous.

June stood there by the kitchen counter, in her loose blue jeans and sneakers with her favorite beige hoodie over a simple dark t-shirt. A newspaper and coffee completed her morning but this last text message took the edge off the nice day she had been hoping for.

She was standing on one leg and rolled her other foot back and forth on the toe of her sneaker, wondering what to do next.

She could hear Jack banging around in the garage and he was busy in the backyard too.

He had been around a lot lately. Proof that he was probably better at the 'excuse game' than her was that while he was at home, he wasn't exactly _home_. They're weren't interacting very much or hardly talking at all but it was obvious that in this one week he was around much more. Stopping in, grabbing a sandwich, spending the night a few times.

And it was obvious that he was easily staying clear of her. Staying up late, taking grocery runs, mowing the lawn.

And always using his regular bike now. Zipping around town and only going back to the base sparingly. Not enough that his presence would be missed. It would take weeks for that, if June knew anything. And as his mom, even he hadn't told her, she would have known there had been a fight of some kind.

What was disturbing was that Arcee seemed to be making no attempts to reach out to him and had immediately hounded June for five 'visits'.

_Yes, I'm horny. So much so I can stand still and feel my nipples harden. _

But every phone call from Arcee strengthened June's resolve more and more.

She just couldn't sneak away on Jack after their talk and she _surely _couldn't do so with him around the house! What was Arcee thinking!? June was more than a little worried, she was disturbed.

And strangely, Jack's presence at the house seemed to shield her from Arcee.

Arcee wouldn't come near the place with him close by.

At least that's what June hoped.

But she knew sooner or later someone would come a knockin'...and she didn't know what she could do about it.

June really was just waiting for the storm to hit. She felt terrible and to miserable for words but all she could do now was wait. Jack was beyond her control, his own man, and Arcee was a force all her own. In this horrible triumvirate, June was the weakest link. And when things came to a head her strengths would be in a different direction.

So all she was determined to do was save her relationship with her son, sexual tension or not.

It wasn't easy the few times they were in the same room.

June was a willful woman. Speaking of certain strengths, you had to be strong as single mom. She wasn't easy to shake or upset and staying cool became a talent more than a skill when it was just you against the world. But she was horrified to find that Jack's presence aroused her to no end.

Unwillingly. And it didn't happen everytime.

Yes, she knew the difference between deliberately thinking about sex and having it wash over you like a heat wave when Jack walked through the kitchen one night.

Her nipples had acted like they wanted to ram themselves through her bra and her panties tickled her hyper sensitive pussy so much that to move almost made her orgasm.

The moment he was down the road to get pizza, June Darby was in her room, biting her pillow and rubbing herself off so much she had to change panties _and _jeans before she could compose herself for his return.

That wasn't normal. No way. Even with the teeny tiny taboo thoughts she entertained about her and Jack from time to time over the years.

It had to be the sex with Arcee. But how do you talk to the only other person who would understand or might help when it was your son? And both were suffering from hyper-active sex drives? _And_ what looked like withdrawals? The last time only worked because they were separated by a door and a few times it was all June could do not to rip open and jump on him, sticking her tongue in his ear and tearing his clothes off.

Beyond that they had gone back to their old game immediately. The very next time they acted as if there was nothing untoward at all. Even Jack keeping his distance for awhile, though by rights they should have made up by now and at least talked a bit more.

But upon realizing she grew excited being near him, she worried that maybe he felt it too, and was staying away all the more.

Her poor Jack. Stuck between a rock and a hard place with no idea what was coming. She wouldn't blame him if he just took off once this was all over. She wouldn't blame him if he just left _now_.

But he didn't.

And if it was this bad for her, she wondered what it must be like for him. But somehow they managed it and she had to note that slowly the fever, as Jack called it, decreased.

June didn't know what was going to happen, but she instinctively sensed the wrongness in her now, beyond thoughts of her son. And she was determined not to relapse. Maybe Jack, having been with Arcee less for a longer amount of time, was more readily able to cope with whatever withdrawals he was having.

She knew it was a matter of time though before it all exploded.

That's when June thought long and hard about the difference between Arcee and Optimus.

And that's when she grew a tiny bit afraid.

**ooo**

"Hi." Arcee said and June jumped so hard she dropped her purse and keys. She spun around away from her car, seeing that Arcee was right behind her not more than six feet away. She was crouched there on one knee, without a care in the world, her blue eyes shining bright. It was a good thing June didn't scream since she had just finished a shift at the hospital and it was nine o'clock at night.

And even though the parking lot back behind the building proper was out of the way and pretty empty at this hour, someone would have heard her.

"Arcee!" She gasped in exasperation. Half laughing and half frowning as she held a hand over her chest. "Omigawd you scared me!" She caught her breath and bent to retrieve her keys. Arcee reached out and took up her purse, holding it out to her on one finger.

"Glad to see you too." Arcee smirked.

"How did you do that? Someone might see you." June took the purse, brushing her hair out of her face and looking about warily.

"Not a chance. I have my ways." Arcee scooted a little closer, looking over her shoulder at the hospital.

She turned back and leaned towards June, who looked up, her eyes pensive.

They shared a quick kiss and June broke away much sooner than expected. She smiled blandly and deliberately turned away with what she hoped was a shy smile.

"I guess it wouldn't do for someone to see you kissing a fourteen foot robot, huh?" Arcee smiled. June didn't say anything.

I wanted to see you." Arcee said, her eyes following the back of June's head as the other woman turned and set her things on top of the car.

"I know." June said. She took a deep breath, staring at the dark horizon of the desert and then turned back around, knowing that this was her moment. Knowing why Arcee surprised her out here like this. There would be no more stalling.

"I can't." was all she said.

"Can't what?"

"I can't see you anymore." she looked up into those incredible eyes.

Arcee stared at her and then sank back on her one foot.

"I see."

"Arcee, this isn't right. Jack's been coming home lately. I know you two fought. It's all got to end and we need to quit this!" June came forward, rushing a little.

"Just like that?"

"I know this is abrupt but there's just no other way. Unless you want to destroy him, we've got to stop." June pleaded, all her carefully rehearsed words getting scrambled up in her feelings and anxiety.

Arcee looked away, thoughtful. The hospital was on a slight rise on the edge of town and from here she was watching the far off lanes of traffic winding through downtown Jasper.

"You said it yourself to put Jack into a compartment." she said mildly.

"But not isolate him. And besides, _I_ can't put my _son_ into a compartment anymore. Not like this." June was trembling a little. Arcee's turned her startling eyes back on her. She sat staring there for so long June looked down at the keys in her hand and wondered what to do, shuffling her feet.

She sighed and spoke in a small voice.

"It can all just go away. It was selfish and selfish things can be forgotten, but not forgiven. Not easily anyway. And Jack feels deeply for you." June's fingers played with her keys, half talking to herself. She didn't see Arcee roll her eyes.

"You sure are something. You can't even look me in the eye." Arcee finally grumped.

"What are you talking about?" June sputtered, glancing up but then turning to her purse, deciding to fish around for some gum. She was nervous and needed something to distract her.

"Funny how you don't have a clue now, but you suuure knew what you wanted that first night."

"What? How dare you say that to me?" June spun around, the gum forgotten. "I just _said _it was selfish thing to do. And for that matter you came on to me!" June's indignation didn't touch Arcee in the least.

"'I didn't see you fighting it very hard."

"Neither did you!"

"Ha!" Arcee actually tossed her head and looked away. June took a deep breath.

"Arcee, I'm not doing this. We need to put this behind us. We need to leave Jack alone. Everyone needs to back off and have some room to breathe. I feel like this is all my fault and there's nothing to be done about it unless you want it all to...come crashing down."

"Oh, so now the huge fuck-up contaminating team Prime is my fault?"

"Jack told me you fought like this. I _said _I'm not doing this. I don't know whats gotten into you but I don't like."

"You don't like what got into me." Arcee mocked her. "Maybe you just want Jack to get into _you_."

This was so unexpected that June blinked in surprise, wondering if she heard right.

She had.

"What in the hell is that supposed to mean?" she frowned, the blood rushing to her face as Arcee glared back at her.

"Gimme a break, June! Look at you blush! You've said as much. So has he!" Arcee smirked wickedly where one should have expected anger. Her eyes gleamed.

"Wasn't so bad to trot that little fact out and get off on it half a dozen times with me, huh? But one little pout from poor Jack and all bets are off?"

"Are you holding this over my head?"

"Are you holding it over mine?"

"This is crazy! Stop it!" June sputtered, caught off guard by the abrupt change but unable to resist rising to the bait. That is, if Arcee _was _baiting her. There we echoes of her argument with Jack written all over this and for this first time she felt all her worry accumulate into one thought that Arcee might be a little out of control. Just like Jack had said. Before she could say more, Arcee went on.

"And if you two have been talking, have you done anything else? Has anything happened?"

"Arcee, stop it!" June was appalled, taking a small step back.

"Why? Why should I? Have I been replaced now? Because now you have your 'nice' legs wrapped around Jack's head instead?"

To her credit, June's fury over-rode her fear. She turned to the top of the car and came back swinging her purse with all her might. She was quick but Arcee was quicker and she caught the small leather missile easily and pried it out of June's hand irresistibly.

"Give that back!" June's voice was rising. Arcee grinned at her impotency.

"Go ahead. Shout your head off. Scream. I'll shut off my null field and you'll give everything away. Just like when you howl to be fucked when we're together!"

"Stop it!" June stomped a foot, her eyes darting around, terrified they might be overheard.

Arcee's smile turned a little deadly now.

"Look at you. Little Miss June Darby. Picture perfect innocence. Did you have the courage to clear the air at least when Jack spilled the beans?"

June opened her mouth again but Arcee cut her off.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it." She mocked June lightly. "Only when you say stop, it means go on, right? Did you tell Jack to stop? Or couldn't you tell him? All the juicy things you shared with me, huh? Did you want to? Paint out a nice picture of what we've been up to? Huh!?"

June's chest was rising and falling and she felt a sudden lump in her throat, shocked to silence at Arcee's incredibly vehement words. She had backed up against her car as Arcee leaned forward from where she sat.

"Stop it!" June hissed, despite herself. This sudden, unexpected showdown was taking a turn for the worse so quickly it was frightening. It was proof that Arcee was indignant at June's avoidance and had probably been fuming ever since she and Jack had fought. And what was more, there were so many over lapping lines of hypocrisy, that bitterness was winning out over anything they could say to each other.

"Were you afraid of what he might do?" Arcee went on "Or what you wanted him to do? Did you wonder if he would be angry...or turned on?"

June stood there, cringing.

"You're not the Arcee who promised to help me. To be there for me." she said, her tone low and serious.

Arcee snorted. "You wanted someone to use a strap-on on you."

"That was your idea!"

"Want _me_ to tell him? Cause you lack the guts!?"

"Why tell him anything!? Why do you want to hurt him!?"

"Because you were fuckin' around in your lovelorn ways over Optimus and stuck your tits in my face. He should know how easy you are, if you haven't shown him already! Little Miss Fishnets!"

June's eyes were wide.

"Why are you using him to hurt me?" She bit her lip, crumbling a little.

"Why are you?" Arcee challenged. June straightened up and just dropped her face in her hands.

Arcee watched her stand there for a moment, then she softened some herself. June didn't notice, but she touched a finger to her armored helmet and the seams of her body pulsed, a slow blue glow in the night. June felt it and she lowered her hands to look up at Arcee, her eyes tortured.

Arcee moved in closer.

"Look...I'm sorry." She set June's purse down, hovering close to her, letting June feel the warmth of her body. Her body still pulsed, oozing sex appeal and desire both.

"I'm sorry, ok?"

She gave June a small hug. June stood still, looking down and shaking her head. Arcee just stayed close, pulling back to lightly rest her forehead against June's own. June shifted her gaze to look into those incredible eyes.

"That was mean of me. I just miss you." Arcee whispered, her body throbbing with arousal. She turned and brushed a finger over the slight mound of June's left breast through her sweater. June groaned and bent away from her touch.

"I didn't mean to be angry." Arcee's other hand caressed down June's back, brushing her bottom.

"Remember, I know how it feels, right? I can help, right?" Her eyes were shining, her desire for June very real.

"Just between us girls?" She added.

She reached up and ever so gently brought the tips of two fingers up between June's legs. June gasped, startled, and took hold of Arcee's wrist with both hands, rising up on her sneakers as if to pull away.

"Arcee, don't." she said finally.

"I miss you. I miss it all." She nuzzled her lips against June's ear. "I know you need it. Everything will be fine. Ok?" she breathed, sending chills through June's body. June's eyes closed as Arcee continued to sooth her. Then Arcee moved her hand up and slid those fingers down the_ front _of June's scrubs.

Arcee turned and looked back into her eyes with a smile. June was panting a little.

"Come on, let's go somewhere we can be alone again." Her body pulsed. She was aching for June, needing her taste.

"No!" June struggled to get the words out. "I'm going home." she managed to get out, her voice strangled. She pulled away from Arcee's hand and turned around hard, pushing away from being this close to her. She was breathing heavy and reached down to snatch up her purse without looking.

Arcee slid back, a little bewildered. June had the key in the lock of the car door already, popping it open, but Arcee reached out and pushed it shut with little effort.

"Let me go!" June clipped out, tugging at the handle uselessly.

"June, don't go. I need you, honey. We both need _this._" Arcee pleaded.

June looked over her shoulder, her face a mix of emotions and her cheeks flushed.

"And that's why I'm going home!" she cried, half in anger and half in torment.

"At least let's go talk." Arcee asked, her eyes worried.

"No, Arcee. No more talks. No more anything. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know what to do. This is all one great terrible nightmare. But I know what I'm _not _going to do." She finished with a little sniff and turned back around.

Arcee frowned.

"Let's just go somewhere. And talk." he voice had dropped a note. She wasn't pleading anymore. June shook her head.

"No. No more." she said, turning to face Arcee again when without warning Arcee reached out and ever so gently poked one of the car tires. A light, casual gesture with one long finger.

That popped it as simply as if she was popping a balloon.

The tire gave a hollow little whistle as the air bled out and June looked down at it, her emotions at war and more than a little scared.

"Don't!" Was all she could manage but Arcee was staring at her with wide unblinking eyes.

June looked up at her, a cold feeling in her stomach.

"I said we're going to talk."

June summoned up a little spine, knowing she was in over her head now, but determined to keep Jack from getting hurt anymore than he already would be. Even if that meant humoring a touchy Arcee.

"And...and what about leaving my car here?" she demanded.

"People will see the tire and reason it out."

June frowned, her mind racing, events spiraling out of her control.

"And if they see me zipping around Jasper on a bike in the middle of the night?" She had let go of the door and was nudging her way around to Arcee's right, wondering herself if she was going to break away and run back to the building. It was then she realized she really _was_ scared.

"You've done it before." Arcee smirked.

Arcee reached back and brought forth one of her collapsible emergency helmets, holding it out and pressing it _against _June, making her take it.

_And_ blocking her escape. She put her hands on the car, one on each side of June. June stared at the slow pulse from the blue glowing seams of Arcee's body.

Arcee smiled thinly and then dropped her arms. June wavered, keying the release on the helmet and letting it pop open smoothly in her hands. She looked down, studying it.

"I want to talk. That's all." Arcee said again, noting how June paused for a moment before finally slipping the helmet on. She softened a little more, clumsily trying to put June at ease as the other woman pulled the safety gear on and tucked her hair up into it.

"You look cute like that." she smiled.

"What about Jack?" June asked, ignoring her.

"We won't be long. But I'm pushing it like this so we better go somewhere else." Arcee looked around, sounding reasonable enough. But she said nothing more about Jack.

"You make a nice Sadie. Especially the ass." Arcee winked, nudging June with her hip as she turned towards the parking lot and made ready to transform.

June just dropped her keys into her purse and hugged it to her chest. She said nothing, her dark beautiful eyes staring back at Arcee with an unreadable expression.

"All right then...let's go." Was all she said.


	11. The Storm Breaks

**The Storm Breaks**

Life's a funny thing. You can rant, rage, carry on, threaten and shout for it to change. You can hope, plead, bargain and beg to get your way, but life just rolls on. And after all is said and done, be it compulsive recklessness or the methodical grind shaping your fate, it's always the little things that come out of nowhere that really decide things.

What's the little things? The _real_ little things? A bus flips on it's side during the morning commute and sends eleven people to the hospital. You would say 'Wow, lucky thing I was running late that day!" But you would forget why. And maybe later in a lucid moment, a quiet moment, you would remember.

_I didn't have any milk for my cereal_. I ran down to the corner to get some real quick and locked myself out of my apartment. That's why I was late.

And hell, you could go farther back than that. I didn't have any milk because I didn't have any cash the night before, and I didn't have any cash on me because...and so on and so on.

And always, the _little_ things.

For Jack Darby it was sugar. He had used the last of the sugar this evening and he didn't want his mother to face a morning without it for her coffee. And he was restless. So before she came home from her shift, he decided to take a night ride and zip over to the Twenty Three Seven. The all night store that the Darby's didn't usually shop at because it was on the other side of town.

After that, it was gasoline. Sugar was the one littlething that made Jack Darby pull into the station. To be standing there filling up when his mother's boss, Mister Jameson, pulled in and call out to him.

"Hey there, Jack."

Jack heard someone call his name and he turned to see the portly Mr. Jameson hefting himself out of his beige ford..

"Oh, hey there, Mister Jameson." he answered.

"Need any help, son?" Jameson called, hefting up his belt and swinging the door of his car closed. Jack frowned a little, but with a smile.

"With what?" he asked, keeping one eye on the pump.

"Your mother's car. The flat tire." Jameson frowned in return.

Jack let go of the pumps handle and straightened up.

"Flat tire?"

"Yeah. Out in the lot. Back at the hospital."

"Does _she_ know that?" Jack put the handle back and grabbed the gas cap.

"Well I should think so, son. She's been off work for about half an hour but I didn't see her. Did you...pick her up? Isn't that where you're going?" Jameson frowned, his questions crossing themselves as the first hint of apprehension worked through his thoughts. Thoughts that had been thinking about the discount doughnuts inside the station for the last two miles.

"Oh, yeah." Jack dispensed all doubt. "Yeah, uh...she called me. She's with a friend 'cause I just got the bike. I'm headed over to a buddy's house now and we got it covered."

Jameson, relieved the the matter was so easily settled, hefted his belt again in an almost happy gesture, glad it was nothing more and twice as he glad he didn't have to help after all.

"Oh, well, that settles that. Tell her I'll see her Thursday!" he waved as he headed up onto the sidewalk.

"Will do."

By the time Jameson chose the box of ten hour old pastries with chocolate sprinkles, Jack Darby was long gone.

A chance meeting. A little thing. That had found Jack Darby there just when his mother's boss happened by. And all because they had run out of sugar and Arthur Jameson liked doughnuts on the cheap.

**ooo**

"Why are we coming out here? What could possibly be out here?" June said as the cool night air cut through her hoodie.

"Come on, June stop worrying. I want you to see something."

June said nothing as the dark desert landscape flashed by. She was no stranger to late night liaisons with Arcee. But before where they thrilled her, now it felt ominous. Ominous seemed to be her favorite word as of late. The dark night didn't promise 'hair-in-the wind' freedom, it just promised darkness.

And while she never questioned the Autobots or their integrity, this whole chapter of her life was so surreal that her worry and doubts were veryreal.

And then there was Arcee's odd behavior. Poking her tire!? That would take some fine explaining! And as soon as they left the lot, Arcee had insisted she had somewhere they could go and talk. June had been a little adamant that they could talk while Arcee just drove around. Stay close to home.

And Arcee, with more than a little sarcasm, agreed that they _could _just go home. That's where Jack was. And June felt she said this almost as a threat.

She had only gone along with Arcee to try and control the situation and talk her down and keep Jack from knowing. What else _could_ she do? She didn't know what else _to _do. Again.

She was between a rock and a hard place as Arcee just headed out of town.

She was disgusted but said nothing.

She glanced down at Arcee's tank as Arcee sped through the night down this country road. June shook her head a little, pursed her lips and just hung on.

**ooo**

"You want what? Your mother?" Ratchet spluttered.

"I need some fancy bridging okay? Bring me in quick and I'll explain more." Jack kept his voice level but it was tight with emotion.

He was racing down the highway, not a car in sight, riding low and serious and tucked up tight behind the windshield. Riding his bike like it could be ridden, his helmet jacked in to the Autobot's base.

One quick pass through the parking lot was all it took. He pulled right up to her car, slipping his phone out and ready to call, wondering why mom just hadn't called _him_. He had dropped his feet, still on his bike, and gave the tire a once over. He couldn't see anything like this. It just looked flat.

Still, Jack Darby straightened up and weighed all that he knew of his life in the last week and every dark little recess of his mind that called out for attention. And all the suspicions therein. He was worried now and it could be something completely unrelated. Maybe. Maybe he should call the cops, because the Darby's really didn't have any other friends that could be called at this time of night. And despite all that had happened, mom still would have called him. Should have called him. But all these years with the Autobot's had given him a nose for trouble that was out of the ordinary, and he knew it was something else.

He could feel it.

Not a word from Arcee all week...his mom taking calls.

_Uh huh._

He called someone better than the cops. He called Ratchet.

Now he was racing towards Autobot base, taking a calculated risk.

"Ok? Can we do that?" he asked.

"Well...well, I don't see why not, but isn't this the time for..." Ratchet went on over the link..

"Come on, Doc, I need fast fingers on this one. It's important."

"Locating your mother's phone is important?" Ratchet sputtered by Jack could hear him moving about.

"It has been before, right? Trust me, Ratchet. _Please_." Using his name and asking please did the trick.

"Well...the land bridge still isn't a toy!" Ratchet spat out, but there was no bite to his bark. Jack was wrong about Ratchet, he _did_ have an appreciation of Earth time. And in three years he had come to see Jack Darby as more than a teenage human. A while back he would have hem-hawed around with about half a dozen more questions before reluctantly giving in. But living on the razors edge together changed all that and he trusted the adult Jack now. He would have to.

So what he said was more from habit than anything else and the dazzling green iris of the land bridge opening up down the road, a hundred yards off. Jack let out a sigh, his lips forming a tight smile.

_Yes!_

He eased off on the throttle a little, and zipped right on in.

**ooo**

June Darby was having her own little moment. Only her's was one of the little things that had nudged life in a dangerous direction.

As she saw the buildings coming up in the dark, she couldn't help by have a funny feeling. What did Jack call it? A nose for trouble? An instinct after all these years with the Autobot's?

But June played out a bit of a cliche here. Like any parent guilt ridden with the knowledge they had already failed their child, she was willing to do anything now to stem the tide of hurt she felt responsible for. If she could somehow go along with this, exactly what she didn't know, she was at least hoping it would spare Jack any more suffering. She'd be willing to take the full brunt of whatever storm was going to break over her life.

So she did nothing. She let Arcee do the driving and offered no complaints, stealing herself for what seemed to be a coming battle of wills with Arcee. Who was insistent and driven and a little intimidating.

June felt like this was a mistake but was immersed in her selflessness more so than ever. Anything to wash away that guilt.

Lucky for her, her phone glowed silently down in her purse, next to her keys and wallet.

She had charged it up just that morning.

Perhaps the little things were still in play, for better or for worse.

**ooo**

"There she is." Ratchet stared at the blinking locator on his screens. A simple enough matter. Signal triangulation and a few more tricks he was smugly pleased about. He turned to the ground bridge as Jack Darby appeared, hunched low over his bike...and not slowing down. In fact when he saw the way was clear, he sped up!

"Whatdothink...youjustcan't!"Ratchet turned, sputtering, but Jack Darby zipped right past him and away down the hall leading off from Central.

Luck of a particular kind was with Jack Darby. He needed some. Ratchet was the only Autobot present and thankfully there was no sign of Miko or Raf. And best of all, no Optimus.

In seconds Jack was outside his quarters and off his bike, through his door, and headed for one of his utility closets.

After pulling out the fat black foot looker, he snatched up a backpack and knelt down, flicking through the lock combinations.

He looked up for a moment, noting how these quarters no longer held the glow they once did. _His _clothes were the ones on the floor. His half finished projects scattered all about. A place for _one_ at the the table and blankets slept _on_, rather than under.

He looked at the several glowing holo-pictures of Arcee on the walls. The one on the bed stand was face down.

Jack Darby hardened his heart.

For good or bad, this ends tonight. He'd have his answers even though it meant, probably, fucking up his entire life.

Well, better to see clearly than keep a bag over his head and even though these suspicions hurt him...he just simply had to know.

He stuffed everything into the bag and was back outside his quarters in no time.

He left a dash of rubber on the floor as he spun the bike around and zipped back down the hallway.

Ratchet must have heard him coming and stood there, hands on his hips as Jack came back up the slight vehicle ramp leading back into Central.

"See here now, this is all well and good to take you at your word, but to come rocketing in here like that is a little unorthodox!"

Jack glided to a halt, already pulling his helmet off. But he didn't get off the bike. He dropped the helmet against his leg.

"I'm sorry Doc. Really. But ya gotta trust me on this one. Not the first time one of us has splashed down in a hurry, right?"

Ratchet rubbed his chin as Jack stared at him, catching his breath. The old medic raised an eyebrow.

"Where is Arcee? Is there some kind of trouble? Are you pursued? It didn't sound like..."

"It's nothing like that. It's major, believe me, but everything is OK." Jack wiped a hand over his face. Before Ratchet could formulate another question, Jack eyed the screen.

"Is that it? She's right there?" he indicated with a nod of his head, hefting his helmet.

Ratchet did a double take, then turning to his computer he punched a button and zoomed in.

"Her phone is, anyway. Did someone steal her purse? Because why nurse Darby would be out there at this time of night is beyond me." Ratchet fired up the restart sequence, shaking his head.

Jack winced.

"Put me a quarter mile out, ok? And I'll need some bearings when I get there. I'll call if I need anything after." Jack pulled his helmet back on.

It still could be something else entirely. But Jack didn't really believe that. Either way, he was in full pursuit of his mother and he would have his answers.

But Ratchet wasn't fresh off the farm and while a measure of autonomy was all well and good, he too had a nose for trouble. He took hold of the bridge controls but then turned to Jack, his glowing green eyes brokering no nonsense.

"Is this something Optimus should be made aware of?" he asked with no preamble.

Jack buckled his helmet down and raised the face guard to look up at Ratchet. "I'll call if I need anything."

Ratchet held his stare for a moment and then gave the tiniest sigh of relent.

"Is this where you tell me it's personal?" he huffed. And the old medic engaged the bridge without looking at the controls. Jack glanced over at the portal and then back at Ratchet, giving him a nod before slapping down the face guard. He turned back to the bridge again, his bike already accelerating as he raised his feet up on the pegs.

And with a warm wash of air, he was gone.

**ooo**

"When did you find time to do this?" June was more than a little surprised. The warehouse was one of those out along county road forty two that had been locked up for five years now. The result of a small, privately owned airport's failed venture. They didn't even appeal to the local teens as party places. Two thirds out of the year, the wind howled out here at the end of the a valley that led up to the desert flats.

A great tailwind for an ambitious airport, a little impractical for small town like Jasper.

But it seemed Arcee had secured one of the buildings for herself and had done a little work. In fact she had furnish it to look for all the world like the warehouse her and June had snuck into periodically for sexual trysts.

There was carpet, an old table and even a sofa, but it was all a little raw. With crates of various items lining the three walls rather than vending machines and paneling. The light was soft and glowing a warm yellow, but it didn't help. The place was cooler and more hollow sounding and of course, there was the wind.

It was far more eery. Like a shack, even though the building was solidly built. Again the word came back to June.

_Ominous._

A lot of things were feeling ominous lately.

"Oh, I made the time. I get around." Arcee strolled past her after she had pulled the great overhead door closed. June hugged her arms to herself as she stood there.

Arcee strolled over onto the carpet before she turned to look back at June expectantly. June sighed and followed her, coming up quietly to the sofa. Arcee smiled and turned towards several crates. June looked around, trying to calm her nerves and get her balance.

"I'm calling Jack." she said suddenly.

Arcee turned back to her with a disgusted snort.

"Come _on_, June." She even managed a slight whine.

"I didn't think we were coming out this far. What do you think he's going to do? Go to bed? My shifts in the ER have run late before but he'll be expecting me at some point."

"He's asleep on the couch." Arcee snorted.

June stared at her, chilled by how Arcee seemed not the least bit concerned at what Jack would think or feel.

"What if someone called him about my car? We don't have long to talk. I've got to get back." June message was clear. Arcee, incredibly, was humming. She had knelt down and was fishing around in a few rough wooden crates and seemed to be looking for something.

"What are you looking for?" June asked, her stomach nervous.

Arcee turned back to her and her expression was so genuine, her blue eyes blinking innocently, June felt a little foolish.

"A chair." She frowned. "Look I know the place is rough but I've got a folding chair here somewhere."

"I can sit on the couch."

Arcee shrugged and went back to looking in her crates anyway. June turned and sat down, willing herself to relax. But it was more than a little creepy that Arcee had even constructed this place. It was laid out just like the one in town actually, but it lacked something and she doubted if it would ever feel as cozy.

And again she willed herself to feel calm.

"I didn't say anything before, but we've come a long way out just to talk." June spoke up.

"Only a few miles." Arcee answered lightly.

"The wind sure howls out here. Are you going to use your null field?"

"Nope." Arcee answered and June frowned as she looked over at her. "I like the wind." Arcee explained as she tossed a folded tarp up onto a crate and glanced at June.

"Look, if it makes you feel any better we can bridge back. And I think I can manage a flat tire." She crawled over to the next crate and June had the distinct impression it was for her benefit. Arcee seemed to be proud of her 'ass' and she was rolling her hips more than she had to.

Frankly, it all seemed a little silly and June pressed her lips together. Bridge back? At this time of night? June and Arcee. Popping into the base and back out again?

"Bridge back. And how would we explain _that_?" June clasped her hands between her knees as Arcee turned around, fishing around in a small backpack she had picked up.

"I should at least call him and make something up." June was rapidly changing her mind.

In fact, June's nerves did her one better.

"This is a mistake!" She shook her head in disgust and went for her purse.

Arcee had come over and sat down in front of her, folding her legs up. She had been nodding quietly the whole time as if she concurred with what June was saying, but when June moved for her purse, Arcee reached out a hand and stopped her. She took her hand away as June turned back to her.

Arcee's eyes glowed warmly, her body once again giving off that faint pulse from the seams in her armor.

"Tell me something, June. Where between here and the hospital did you start thinking you had a say in the matter?"

"What!?"

Arcee touched a finger to her temple a wave of lust washed over June, actually making her gasp. Her eyes went wide and Arcee gave her a knowing smile.

"I spared you any pleasure on the way out here, just to get you out here." Arcee chuckled and June shook her head, confused.

"I said I'm not doing this."

"Oh, but I think you'll want toooo." Arcee actually answered in a sing-song voice.

June got up, her feet planted.

"Stop this!"

And to her utter shock, Arcee tilted her head and pulled something out of the backpack. It dangled from her fingers, held up so June could see it.

A pair of handcuffs.

"Why? We're just getting started." Arcee said, her eyes extra bright.


	12. Fallout

**Fallout**

Arcee crawled toward June all on all fours, her eyes bright. She rolled her shapely hips and slight shoulders like a panther would, the contours of her body accentuating her sex appeal. June turned her head to stare at her in mute horror, her own eyes going wide as she watched Arcee stalk her like a cat. She groaned through her gag and sagged a little, her arms aching.

Those cobalt blue eyes burned with a bright intensity, so bright it almost hurt.

"Mmmmh." Arcee purred. "You know June, I do have to say that I didn't know ecstasy until I went down on you that first time. It's ambrosia. You should be flattered." She licked her lips.

"Drives me wild. Such a rush. In fact, I intend to alter my own secretions to parallel yours."

She stopped on all fours like a lioness, her eyes at face level with June.

"That way, no one can resist it. And we'll all get what we need. You, me, Jack. Even Prime. And then we all can fuck ourselves silly." she grinned, the seams of her body pulsing a deep glowing blue. June murmured something, struggling weakly, and Arcee leaned forward and ran her tongue up the side of June's cheek.

"Mmmmh!" She purred.

**ooo**

June had taken one look at those cuffs and did the only thing she could think of. She ran. But Arcee had her down in moments, clipping them deftly around her wrists and ignoring her struggles. Wanting to be spared June's cries of horror and protests, she simply hoisted her up onto her feet and gagged her.

"Not to hard. We both know how much you like to moan." Arcee grinned as she finished tying the knot. She held the cuffs by the chain then and turned to slide two small crates up next to a support pillar, making sure they were solidly placed. June's eyes were terrified but she was quick enough to see what Arcee meant to do. She shook her head furiously as Arcee stood her on the crates and leveled a look at her, taking the chain back up in her fingers.

"Either you raise your arms up, or I'll hook you up there myself." She said.

June was breathing hard through her gag, horrified, but she didn't want to be picked up by the cuffs so she raised her arms straight up, tears running down her face.

Arcee lifted her neatly and June was forced to look up and slide the chain of her cuffs down over a thick, long necked steel hook anchored up on the support pillar above her head.

After that, Arcee set her down on her sneakers and while there was no pain, her arms were useless, held up above her head as she stood there on the crates. There was no slack to slide the chain up and off the hook. She was stretched out and helpless.

"See? I knew you were into it." Arcee smiled warmly.

June stood there, fighting her panic and trying to say something. Arcee ignored her. She crawled away and made herself busy over by the sofa, rummaging through another box that June couldn't get a look at.

"See, I know all about this addiction you've been yammering about. And truth be told, so what? Is it so bad to be bad? Because it feels so gooood." Arcee went on, talking as casually as ever. She looked over her shoulder at June and seemed to think for a moment. Her cobalt blue eyes sparkled, over bright. Wired, as if she was high. She was tinkering with something in front of her, but then she smiled and dropped down onto all fours again, crawling back around on her knees to face June.

"Come on, June, you know you can't resist it. When I fine tune things you'll be begging me for it and..."

Arcee stopped suddenly and turned her head towards the empty warehouse floor.

She stayed that way so long, June thought she had suffered some kind of shut down, But then Arcee slowly panned her eyes around the warehouse, blinking slowly as if she was scanning for something.

Finally she chuckled, shaking her head and placing both hands on the floor in front of her, with little effort she planted her boots and thrust her ass high up in the air behind her. Then, planting her feet, she stood up right at the waist, her fists at her sides and letting out a deep seated sigh of relief as she straightened up.

June's eyes went wide as Arcee stood back up to her full height. She saw that Arcee had a new custom made sex toy clipped solidly between her legs and it was jutting straight out at her. Her intentions were clear. But she wasn't looking at June.

"Jack, is that you?" she said into the shadows of the building behind June. Arcee actually sounded pleased. June's heart sank and soared at the same time and she was craning her neck to try and see for herself.

"I know someone's there. So it _has_ to be you. My tenacious little stud." She stepped over to June's left, holding onto the pillar for a moment and drumming her fingers.

"What will it be this time? Did you come to catch us at it and have a fit? Or watch us and join in? Surely you suspected this. Surely it turns you on."

Arcee looked back down at June. She seemed thrilled as many new pleasures came to her imagination, studying June with bright eyes..

"You have a choice you know." She went on, still staring at June but talking to Jack. "Unlike your mother." she indicated June with a little lift of her chin.

"But don't worry. Trust me I know, she'll go along with _anything _and end up begging us for more!" Arcee bent down and gently raise June's chin with one slender finger. Then she turned her head back to the shadows.

"I can feel you thinking it over, honey." Arcee smiled as she straightened back up. "She wants you, you know. You want her. You both want me. So here's our chance!"

The shadows still hadn't answered.

Arcee grinned.

"Should I tell you how she didn't exactly fight me when coming out here?" She turned her waist towards June and June shook her head violently, turning her head away from that obscene sex toy.

Still no answer.

"Mmmmh, now I _want _you to watch, Jack. I don't know how you did it but I'm glad you did. So now it's perfect." Arcee went on. She stepped back around in front of June and knelt down on both knees. "You'll love this. And when the time's right come over here and take your turn so I can watch you fuck your mother." She reached out for June's scrubs.

Now the shadows answered, but not in the way Arcee expected. They moved, a quick shimmering blur that fooled the eye, off to Arcee's left. She had been staring in the wrong direction the whole time.

And she never saw Jack Darby's punch coming.

One second there was nothing. Then in the next second Jack's form shimmered into existence, launching himself through the air between Arcee and his mother, slamming his exo-frame fist into Arcee's cheek with a crack that June felt in her chest.

Arcee was in the process of just turning towards the sound and she turned her face right into it. Her head slammed back the other way, her neck stretching so far, it was wonder it didn't break.

"Huhhh!" She cried, reeling up and backwards, tripping over the sofa that caught her behind the knees and Arcee went down, the momentum of the punch helping to bowl her over. She rolled with it, stunned, crushing two flimsy wooden crates and ending up against the wall.

There was a bright glow of energon that splashed the wall next to Arcee's head as she slumped down.

Jack landed none to gracefully himself but he was already up on his feet, dressed head to toe in a black body suit that shimmered in the weak light like a prism. June murmured something through her gag but Jack didn't look back at her, he was just whipped off his backpack and thrust his fist inside it, hefting it up.

Arcee's head came up, furious, spitting a second glob of energon wetly on the carpet. Then she was upright, combat ready, and snarling in rage.

"You little bastard!"

Jack took a moment to yank down his face mask, pushing his hood and goggles back off his head.

"I told you I'm done playing games. You've gone to _way_ to far, you psychopathic bitch." he glared at his former lover.

Arcee laughed, taking in his gear and wiping her chin with her wrist.

"Who do you think you are, honey? Spiderman?" she sneered, shoving the couch aside.

"I thought you never saw the movie." Jack sneered back.

And then he shot her.

His backpack exploded into ten thousand nylon fibers as he keyed in the full power of an arc- unit. A phase-welder actually. A wonderfully versatile tool of the Autobots with an ironically deceptive name. For this was nothing like it's earth contemporaries and could be used as a make shift weapon in a pinch because you could direct the current of electricity through the very air.

Used like this, to an Autobot, it amounted to nothing less than a stun gun.

That blast struck Arcee in the stomach and traveled up her right side, making her arm twitch in the air almost comically. She screamed in pain, turning her face away from the howling white blast, and tried to dive to the side but Jack preempted her move and bore the snarling beam of electrical current down on her, taking her in the chest as she dove and smashing her back through the rickety old table. She rolled over twice, crushing more crates, before again slamming up against the wall.

Jack wasted no time, turning to his mother and wrapping his arms around her knees, the arc-unit steaming in his exo-frame hand. With one heave he hoisted her up on his shoulder partially.

"Work the cuffs off!" He cried, and looking up, June did just that, now that she had some slack. Slipping them neatly off the hook and steadying herself as Jack turned and dropped her feet to the floor. She kept her balance, although her shoulders ached in protest. Jack switched hands and took the chain of her cuffs in his exo-fist. He had to grind the cuffs apart, aware that if he just gave the chain a snap he could break both his mother's wrists.

"Come on!" The chain pinched and squealed but then light tinsel steel parted and June was free. Jack was already helping her work her gag loose.

"Ah!" June cried, the corners of her mouth stinging. "My God, Jack!" she cried, tears on her face as she pressed her fingers to the red welts at the corners of her mouth.

"We got to get out of here!" Jack was already turning back when a familiar laugh stopped him cold. June heard it too and for a moment their eyes met.

Jack looked over his shoulder and June pressed her hands over her mouth in horror.

Arcee was pushing herself up out of the rubble of the table, back onto her hands and knees. Dust and grit from the old steel girders above rained down on her, dusting her lightly in a fine rust colored powder.

"When will I _ever _learn." She shook her head, sadly. "You Darbys can be so frustrating."

She raised her head up to stare at mother and son.

Her eyes were purple.

Completely purple.

The laughter belonged to Airachnid.


	13. Fear

**Fear**

"Jack!" June gasped, her hands going over her mouth as she stared wide eyed over his shoulder.

"Stay behind me!" He said, never taking his eyes off Arcee and hefting the arc-unit up.

Arcee in body, but not in mind, Jack knew that voice well. So well it would haunt his dreams for the rest of his life. The last time he heard it, that laughter was echoing in the dim cave of her lair in a forest region hundreds of miles from here. Airachnid had been cutting his clothes off with one long razor nail at the time.

To find her here like this was staggering beyond belief but Jack recovered his wits quicker than his mother.

The last time Airachnid had made an appearance in the name of sex was out of rival's jealousy and her everlasting desire to torment Arcee. Seeing her here now, in control of Arcee's body, was helping a lot of things fall into place. But not quite all. Jack ground his teeth, feeling his mother shaking behind him.

"Don't faint!" He hissed.

June swallowed hard, forcing herself not to vomit. "I won't." she whispered. "I won't."

'Arcee' rolled her eyes where she held still, poised on her hands and knees.

"You better start talking." Jack kept the arc-unit dead center.

"I don't see why I should." Airachnid purred, her voice cloying and more sultry than Arcee's rich tone. Her eyes still glowed a deep purple.

"If I've learned anything about Decepticon's, without fail, they love to monologue. Start talking, you psycho." Jack's lips were a tight line.

Airachnid sighed.

"I suppose that's true. They do like to carry on...except maybe for Megatron." she lifted up a hand and studied Arcee's fingers. "For myself, well, for it's not my style to stomp my enemies into the ground and then chase the dregs for mega-cycles. _Men_." She shook her head and lowered her hand, looking back at the Darby's.

_ "This _is my style, and you should see your faces right now." she chuckled.

"That's not the talking I mean."

Airachnid laughed and pulled her knees up, taking a seat and crossing her legs, brushing herself off..and taking her time about it.

"Where is Arcee?" June blurt out. She had lowered her hands and taken hold Jack's belt, staying back on his right. Jack kept the arc-unit steady, never taking his eyes off his enemy.

Airachnid rolled her eyes again.

"Your mother is great in bed but she's such a _bore_ otherwise. You can't twist the knife in someone who is hard-wired to sacrifice themselves. But I corrupted her for a little while. To bad the one bled into the other and she became more 'mom' than 'whore' as time went on."

June moaned and bit her lip and Jack's expression hardened.

"Don't listen to her." he hissed without looking back and Airachnid laughed.

"Talk about cliches! If you want me to talk you better be ready to hear it." Her purple eyes glowed a touch brighter.

"Well let's have it then, damn you!" Jack growled.

"What do you want to know first?" Airachnid was excited, in the spotlight of her own making and relishing it, completely in her element. "Were you enjoying the show?"

"Where is Arcee?" Jack echoed his mother's question.

"I suppose it's all about Arcee's safety and all that. The ever present love and concern. But then, I don't think loyalty and honor can be tossed around to lightly anymore, hmm?" She cocked an eyebrow.

"If you're going to be twisting everything into self congratulation, then forget it. Give me some straight answers."

Airachnid threw her head back laughed, but in a sadistic twist she switched it to Arcee's laughter and both mother and son shivered.

"Your precious Arcee is at the back of my mind. Asleep." She lowered her head back down after a moment. "Curled up like a little girl clutching a teddy bear. When I took her body the only thing I regretted was that I had to take her unawares. It would have been nice if she at least knew it was me. But it had to be this way or she would have been fighting me. And frankly, Jack, everything I _do_ is self-congratulation."

"Go on! When did you do _this_?"

"Oh, can't I relish that juicy bit just a little longer?" Arcee pouted.

"Get on with it!"

"There's that ravenous human need for answers. You passed that on to the Autobots, you know. Even now, you're just as curious as you are scared." Airachnid smiled wickedly. "It's delicious." she sighed. Then she went on.

"Right after you and she talked about Optimus and poor tragic June. That was when. She was already exploring how to masturbate and when she returned home she was determined to delve even deeper and plum things out about all _four_ of you. She was desperate to learn and used the one tool humanity has developed that's even _remotely_ helpful to a Transformer."

"The internet." Jack sighed, the colossal mistake struck home like a flash of lightning.

"Well, that and the concept of sex toys." Airachnid laughed. It filled the warehouse hauntingly. More chilling than the howl of the wind.

"Your primitive little web. It sounds silly when you say it, but all to true. Wonderful thing the internet. It's a playground for debauchery. And little Arcee was like a schoolgirl off the farm." She laughed for a moment, shaking her head.

"I won't bore you with how, because I know you might use that against me. But I took Arcee's advice and did a little sniffing around of mine own. She told me to find out for myself. How did I do?"

"Why...why is she being so cooperative?" June sniffled.

"To gloat! Since she doesn't need to hide anymore."

Airachnid clapped Arcee's hands.

"Bravo, Jack." She smiled warmly.

"But..." June's voice was pained.

"A virus. She took Arcee over somehow." Jack answered.

Arcee scoffed. "My kind are millions of years old. You humans could never come up with a virus to manage such a feat, even with a simpleton like Arcee. Not even your boy wonder back at base could do that. The little Rafael."

"He might surprise you." Jack's mind was sifting two dozens ideas in rapid succession and none of them good. Talking with Airachnid was dangerous in the extreme. But he focused his temper on her and not his shock.

"Rafael? That he might. He's getting old enough." Arcee/Airachnid winked.

"That's sick!" June spit out. She was fighting hard to reel in her senses. For her, this experience was nearly overwhelming and she was trying to match Jack's strength of will. She knew he was _incredibly_ upset but he was keeping it together. He had to. _She_ had to.

"That's the last thing you should say about anyone, June." Airachnid turned her gleaming purple eyes on June, deigning to notice her again. "Your pathetic little whispers about your son. His pathetic little gasps about mommy."

"Stop it!" June cried.

"Did you know when mommy says 'no' it means 'yes yes yes', Jack?"

Jack didn't rise to the bait.

"How. Did. You. Do it?" He growled through his teeth, buying time to think.

"Oh, I splashed around in the pool and waited for Arcee to dip her toe back in. Once I knew where to find her. Once I knew I could catch her off guard, I was waiting. The Autobot's. Their greatest weakness is being unable to think as nasty as their enemy. It was something akin to what happened to Megatron with the mute one. Bumblebee."

"Keep going." Jack said but Airachnid laughed

"You're right you know, we love to monologue. Listen to me go on! But I think that's all you need to know for now, my dear."

Jack dared a look around, making sure the way was clear to the outside, giving his mom a glance and noting her pale face and over-bright eyes. Judging her strength against his own racing pulse. They'd have to make a break for it soon.

He cast about a little, weighing his options, but as he did so Arcee/Airachnid could see him working through it, now that she had mentioned the other Autobots. Airachnid smiled slowly, her chin lowering as she recognized the signs.

"Before you ask, Jack, I haven't been so foolish as to tip my hand back at your base. Starscream, Knock-Out...they wouldn't have been able to resist such an oppportunity and would have bungled it somehow. Me? I'm verrry patient and all that will come later at a time of my choosing."

He knew what she meant.

She would bring the place down one person at a time. Seducing them, corrupting them, sabotaging them or outright murder. There would be nothing to stop her. That is, if she even chose to do so. Airachnid might bide her time for months, spreading her web, relishing the strife, playing with them all like mice. Sexually motivated and hungry for more. The thought made Jack want to vomit. June groaned weakly, probably closer to it than he was.

Jack's hands were shaking slightly. This was worse than waking up in her cave. This was a waking nightmare. This was her revenge.

Corruption. Debauchery. Airachnids meat and milk.

She had nearly succeeded with him and his mother. _Nearly._ And when he had that thought, Jack scrambled for it and held on, desperate for time and any 'weapon' he could use. Desperate to milk her for more information so he could decide what to do.

For he knew just as well Airachnid that this arc-unit was no weapon to have at a time like this and the longer they talked the more precarious his position.

But he had to know, so he tried to goad her.

"You're not so superior as you think. You like to act like an empress with a bowl of forbidden fruit and yet you had a good taste yourself!"

"Nice metaphors." Airachnid smirked. "But of course I did!" She went on, delighted. "You're wasting your time if you think I'll deny it. Surely you realize that when Arcee started to go a little more hardcore and daring that was all me? At least you do now. She had already been looking into anal sex of all things." she smiled and wiggled where she sat. She raised one hand up expansively.

"So I indulged myself. Just as I indulged you both."

_Uh oh. Bad idea, Darby. _

He heard his mother whimper.

Airachnid was a master of intrigue and torture. Jack was never going to goad her. She was just letting him take the conversation right where she wanted it to go. It washed over him all the quicker that she held all the cards and she knew it. Her game, and her pleasure, was letting her victims know it.

"We have to get out of here." Jack shook his head.

"Shouldn't we just call the Autobot's?" June was sniffling.

"No!" Jack snapped and both he and his mother knew why. "I don't...I don't know." he added.

And Airachnid grinned.

By now tears were running down June's face and Arcee/Airachnid leaned forward, her teeth parted as she relished June's horror. Like waves of warmth to her black spark.

She wasn't done yet. Not by a damn sight.

"And speaking of indulging..." She went on. "You were great in the sack, Jack, but your mother is better. Because she's submissive and sleazy at the _same _time. My kinda girl. You'd love to hear what she can be talked into it. Optimus must have been shocked!"

"Omigawd." June moaned.

"If only everyone knew what 'good-girl' June is capable of. What's it like knowing she shouted your name when we used a strap-on?"

"Shut up!" Jack couldn't help but shout, knowing it was pointless. Knowing she had lots of venom left. Airachnid ignored him.

"Well, you wanted to hear it. I was just sniffing around for something to use against Prime, truth be told. Seems like there was a stellar opportunity there, watching everyone be all subdued and sorrowful. Imagine my surprise when I happen upon little Miss Darby getting herself bent over to let off a little steam. You can bet that guy will never forget _that_ day, eh June? And then she came onto _me_. Who was I to deny her?"

"Shut your face!" Jack shouted.

"Your mother likes to have her nipples pinched when she's bent over. Or do you know that already?" Airachnid salted the wound.

June dropped her head against Jack's shoulder and started openly crying. And while all these things battered at Jack's mind, body and soul, he resisted. Knowing Airachnid well, he knew it served her appetites and desire to relish torture and dawning horror slowly drawn out of her victims. Ironically, it reminded him of someone watching porn, letting the arousal build up for nothing but a cheap money shot.

And that thought was just silly enough...he smirked.

"Ok. Go ahead. Get it over with it." He quipped. "Trot out every sordid little detail." He willed his body to relax, his arc-unit still steady in his hands as he stood on the other side of the sofa with his mother.

"Point out every little kinky humiliating thing you can. So she shouted my name. So I'm crazy about her legs. So what? Did you want the two of us to compare notes and end up in bed? That's what you want to hear, right? But it didn't work now, did it?"

"It worked enough." Airachnid/Arcee's eyes gleamed just a tiny bit less, her smile just a little less bright.

"Not like you wanted it to and you know it. The 'grand' architect." He scoffed. "You can pat yourself on the back and gloat all you want but it didn't take. Arcee knew more than you. Had more passion. Your passion is just sour grapes trying to capture what she picked up naturally. You still don't know shit."

June had raised her head, sniffling, staring at Jack and listening, although his words surprised her. Airachnid's smile faltered a little and she was aware that Jack Darby had gotten the measure of her once before. Back in another lair.

"Nice try, bitch." He smirked, sensing her thoughts. "You couldn't resist souring the soup. It was the bio-fluids wasn't it? Had to be. There's a very overpowering attraction to be had when a human and a Transformer bond. And Arcee modified her body to make the sex better. You? You just had to tweak it so you could use those bio-fluids to manipulate. Take, where she gave willingly. Because there's nothing in you but greed and lust."

Arcee/Airachnid wasn't smiling anymore.

"Hell, you were still trying to use it on mom when I got here. But Arcee's formula works on feelings as well as impulses. We both felt better being away from you because you're naturally repulsive and it finally started to show. Patient? That's a laugh, I wonder who's the addict here. You need us more than we need you."

Airachnid looked away.

"You're just another leaky vessel, Decepticon. When you fill up, everything good just runs out and all that's left is desperation."

Airachnid was silent now, turning her head back to stare at Jack.


	14. Flight

**Flight **

Jack turned his head to address his mother though he kept his eyes on Airachnid.

"See it? See it in her? I think a bit _to _much makes sense now. More than she counted on. She's tried to ruin us for years. All of us. Never kill us, _ruin_ us. What better way than to play on weaknesses and temptation?"

"Yes." June sniffed, dabbing her nose with the sleeve of her sweater.

"That's the only pleasure you could get because you're a frigid bitch compared to Arcee." he looked back at Airachnid.

"You're a rare one Jack. I'll give you that." she was _not_ smiling.

He turned and addressed his mother again.

"Even the fight she had with me. Thinking she was pushing me to my limits. Cutting me off. Making me rabid for it. Content to see if I would snap and happy to wait for the results. Playing on suspicions and anger."

"Now who's monologuing?" Airachnid finally sneered.

Jack took a few steps toward the door and June followed, quickly gathering her things up and staying behind her son.

"What did you roll the dice for?" Jack couldn't resist twisting his own knife as they backed away, the arc-unit ready in his hands. "Rape? Murder? Suicide? And then team Prime would have come apart at the seams. I bet you had your sights set on Prime next."

"Oh, I still have my sights on many things back at 'home'. You'll notice I said 'have' because I'm _hardly _finished. I still intend to see this through." Airachnid gloated but there was an edge to her voice as if she wasn't so sure.

"Keeping moving, mom."

"Jack, she's getting angry." June bit her lip.

"Fuck her. Just keep moving."

Arcee/Airachnid slowly got to her feet and walked up next to the support pillar. She leaned against it. Her eyes had shifted in their glow. She was sullen but still couldn't resist carping as she slowly watched the retreating Darby's.

"And when I _am _done I intend to take Arcee to the highest point, let her digest all that I have done in her name, and then throw myself off the cliff to relish her screams all the way down."

Jack was to quick for her.

"Bingo! That means you have a way _out._ If Arcee's death doesn't mean your own, than that means there's a way to get you out of there that won't kill her."

"Fat chance." Airachnid sniffed, looking away.

"Thanks for that." Jack smiled, finally managing to goad her.

Airachnid looked at her nails, but her fury at Jack Darby was clear. She turned her eyes back on him, their glow deep and deadly.

"I'm going to tear your balls off and rape your mother while you bleed to death watching." She snarled, unable to hide her own feverish lust and fury. Jack shivered because she knew she meant it.

"Fat chance." He echoed her words. They were way off the carpet now, deep in shadow, inching their way towards the door. "Can you drive my bike?" He asked, his eyes never leaving Airachnids. June answered.

"N-no. But I can start it." She sniffed.

"Never mind, just stay close to me." Jack replied.

Airachnid straightened up and stepped behind the pillar, walking in a wide circle out to Jack's left onto the warehouse floor.

"Stay over there in the light, you bitch." He warned her.

"Do you _really_ think you can get away?" Arcee's armored boots moved soundlessly. She no longer moved like Arcee. She was stalking them as Airachnid.

"That's not as effective at a distance as you would like. And you know it." she was speaking of Jack's arc-unit.

Airachnids own body, wherever it was, was made for the shadows, but now she repressed Arcee's own blue glow and brighter colors. Even now she blended back into the darkness.

"Stay away from us, you snake!" June cried.

"What's the matter, June? Scared?" Arcee's eyed glowed a sickly purple deep in the shadows, at the very back of the warehouse. Like a spiders eyes glowing in the dark from her lair.

"Keep moving." Jack growled, motioning with his elbow. June scuttled back a step.

"Ask yourself again why Jack won't call the Autobot's. Ask yourself. Ask how he hopes to get back to town without bridging to safety." Arcee's purple eyes had moved _up_ in the air.

Jack swallowed as he realized she had climbed the infrastructure of the warehouse and was swinging gently along it towards them using Arcee's slender, yet powerful arms.

She was playing with them. He could see her now, coming up through the shadows along the ceiling.

It was grotesque and horrifying to behold.

"Whether he admits it or not, Jack can't handle such a paramount shame himself. He hopes to keep this aaaall under wraps. But I still win. Because this taint of incest will be between you _two_ forever, even if you managed to resist it." She let go of the rafters and thumped down to the floor in front of them, playful.

Then she came striding forward arrogantly. Jack and June were five yards from the huge overhead doors and Jack hefted the arc-unit threateningly. Airachnid stopped twenty feet away.

"You Darby's have proven more resistant than I thought. Frustrating, but there's still more delicious things to come once you realize you're not going anywhere."

"Don't bet on it." Jack answered but his mind was racing. He had been thinking those very things and he had no idea how to get out of here and get away. And he couldn't bring the Autobots in on this. So what was he to do? He could slow Arcee's body down with this thing. He couldn't stop her.

"Oh really? Yes, I suppose you're right." Arcee gave a resigned shrug. "Leave then. Go ahead. I won't even try to stop you." She indicated the small service door June was inching towards, then she put her hands on her hips.

"Jack, let's just go!" June cried.

Jack held still. He was working through it again. And once more Airachnid smiled.

"That's right, Darby. When you leave, the only way _you_ have a chance of getting me out of Arcee is to tell the Autobots. Only way to do that is to let the cat out of the bag. You could call Optimus in and he could flatten me, but I _might _get away, and _still _the cat is out of the bag. And I win either way because team Prime will _never_ be the same. Neither will Arcee. You dare not leave me here and you dare not stay!" She threw her head back and laughed.

"Oh, you horrible witch." June whispered, understanding at last.

Jack chewed his lower lip, quivering and uncertain. The initiative was slipping away as Airachnid rallied and came at him from a different angle. Now he could see she _really_ held all the cards.

Airachnid looked back down, getting the better of her mirth.

"I tell you what, Jack dear. Put that thing down and the two of you stay. Willingly. I won't hurt either of you. We don't need to fight. And we'll have a little more fun."

No one spoke.

"We'll take turns. Or maybe all together?" Airachnid smiled, her eyes bright as if this was the most natural solution in the world.

"You really are one sick bitch." Jack's voice was strangled and June felt her panic rise.

"Part of you wants to. And you both know it." Airachnid smiled one more time.

"A bigger part of me thinks I should shoot you in the face." Jack growled.

"Kill me!?" Airachnid mocked, eyes over-large and placing both her hands over her chest, feigning horror. "Yes...this close and in the head. That would do it. And it would kill Arcee, too." Somehow she loomed over them both, closer now, brushing at her helmet. Her body suddenly pulsed with light.

"Jack!" June noticed it, shouting a warning to her son, as the blue glowing heat washed over them.

"She...she would rather die than let this go on." Jack stammered, blinking fast, his body betraying him a wave of desire he hadn't felt the like of in a month.

"How noble." Airachnid waited for Jack to falter. That one instant his sexual pleasure would make him vulnerable.

"But like I said, one way or the other you lack the balls to..." and then she made her move.

She drove right at him, fingers out like claws, arms stretching.

Jack fired as he dove aside.

The beam took Arcee/Airachnid in the chest again and she screamed, knocking June one way and Jack the other and slamming into the overhead door behind them with a tremendous crash. Jack kept his feet and turned with a snarl.

"You fuckin' bitch!" He snarled and fired again, washing the lightning up and down Arcee/Airachnid's limbs. She screamed again, a raging wail of pain, and thrashed against the dimpled-in door, convulsing.

June, back on her feet, came running around to Jack, horrified and noting he didn't lessen his fire.

"Jack, stop!" She cried, the strobing arc of white electricity making everything look demonic. The shadows danced through the empty warehouse like mad puppets, the noise an ear splitting scream. The ozone in the air made them both want to sneeze.

"Stop! Stop it!" June screamed over the noise and tugged at his arm with all her might.

Jack ceased fire and mother and son reeled away, falling back on the cement floor. Rivets and rollers rained down from above and the Darby's looked up to see the overhead door pull from its frame and smash down onto the hot form of Arcee in long rolls of tin steel.

They sat there, stunned, shielding their heads, and when it was finally over they glanced at each other with wide eyes and quickly got to their feet.

"Omigawd." June gasped taking it all in. Jack took one look at the arc-unit where it lay smoking on the cement and he knew he had burnt out the coil.

"Let's go!" He grabbed his mother by the arm and pulled her along, skirting around the door and Arcee, leaving her where she lay. He helped his mother step past the mess, trying to blink his eyes clear and then they were out.

"Did you kill her!?" June was appalled as she let herself be dragged through the opening and out into the night.

"No. But I hope I lit her up enough to slow her down!" He was running now, taking his mother by the hand and headed off across an old runway. The wind howled around them and Jack tried to shake the noise and terror from his mind, his eyes still dancing with spots, making it hard to see. June got her footing and ran alongside her son, her joggers physique making it almost easier for her. That and she had looked away from the lightning and could see better.

So together they ran, helping each other, hand in hand.

**ooo**

Breathlessly they made it to Jack's bike, sitting behind a rock just off the road he had bridged in on with it's kickstand down.

"Wha...what are we going to do?" June gasped, leaning over with both hands on the seat. Jack unclasped the helmet and shoved it into his mother's hand.

"I don't know, we just have to get out of here." Jack answered. He was breathing hard too and tore around the other side of the bike, giving the tires a quick kick.

"Is she going to chase us?" June's eyes were wide.

"I hope so." Jack slipped his leg over the seat and righted the bike, flipping the kickstand up.

"You _hope_ so!?" June was appalled, tugging the helmet on. Jack steadied the bike as June slipped up onto the seat behind him and wrapped her arms around his sides.

"Yes!" He called over his shoulder.

"We don't want the autobots to know. And I hope she's angry enough to chase us rather than head back to base and cause trouble." He fired up the bike.

"Jack...maybe we _should_ just tell them!" June said through her helmet over the howling wind.

Jack took a precious moment to turn in his seat and look at her more fully. June let go for a moment and they stared at each other.

Jack looked into those gorgeous eyes, accentuated by the helmet since that was all he could see of his mothers face in the dim light of the desert at night. Even after crying, she was beautiful.

"Do _you_ want them to know?" he asked, his voice low and serious. Even so, June heard him over the wind. He pulled his hood and goggles down and tugged his faceguard back up as she said nothing.

"As for her, she'll finish whatever she has in mind for_ us_ first." Jack got the bike going. "Then who knows_ what _she'll do!"

June hugged Jack tight again and kept her face down, despite the helmet, as he gave the bike a little gas and guided it out of the sand and up onto the road. She held on tighter as he accelerated, bringing his feet up and tearing away into the night.


	15. Razor's edge

**Razor's edge**

The two lane road Jack had bridged in on headed out into the desert flats one way, and back towards the main road the other. As they raced along, Jack could see the dim shadow of the airport warehouses crawl slowly by far off on his right. There were no lights. At any moment he expected Airachnid to come bursting up out of the desert and sideswipe him. So when they reached the intersection at county road forty two, Jack ignored lane laws and cut over to take the merge lane on the opposite side. One long curve, without even slowing down, had them back in their lane and headed towards town. Jack never looked back. June said nothing, although she probably had her heart in her throat from that little maneuver. But they were finally making some distance and the buildings behind them were quickly out of sight.

The flats would have been no answer. Heading back to town was all he could think to do. But after a minute, as expected, far behind them a single solitary headlight blinked into existence in his mirror.

Airachnid was in pursuit and for that he had to be grateful.

But it also meant she wasn't playing around anymore. She had to eliminate Jack and his mom now, all things considered. Because if Jack couldn't come up with anything, his last recourse _would _be the Autobots. But as she chased them it must have been delicious for her, because Arcee's body was her hostage. Should they just bridge back anyway?

His mother must have had the same thought. She knew they were headed back to Jasper. Over the howl of the wind, he saw her let go of his tunic with her left hand and point at the far off glow of the town lights, then she spread her hand and shook it as if to say 'are you serious'? Jack just nodded, wondering how he could use his 'chameleon armor', his bike..._anything _to keep them alive and stop Airachnid.

After that, June just put her head down and held on.

**ooo**

_Whenever you need a cop, you can never find one! _

Jack was closing in on Jasper fast and they had the road all to themselves. He was hoping his mother wasn't looking back because Arcee's headlight was much closer. He had hoped that he had popped a few circuits and burst a few hydraulics in her when he had blasted her good and solid with that arc-unit.

And maybe he had. Arcee was substantially faster than this bike but she was coming up slower than he expected. If she was damaged, it would slow her down and that would help.

But no cops! Two crotch rockets flying towards town and no cops!?

And then Jack was suddenly grateful there _were_ none. Out here traffic was thin at this time of night and there were no police in sight.

Airachnid was not Arcee. She would probably just slaughter them, sowing a greater chaos as she chased down the Darbys. And scaring her off would be a bad idea.

_So how do I keep my head on my shoulders and keep this all under wraps?_ _I'm flying into town being chased by my possessed Autobot girlfriend like some scene out of the Road Warrior._

The headlight behind him went out.

_Oh, Fuck!_

Jack felt his blood run cold.

_Where is she!?_

There was a solitary light pole up ahead, shining just off the road on a billboard that was welcoming everyone to Jasper. Jack leaned over and looked in his mirror after they zipped passed.

Seconds later, only for a moment, a blue blur flashed through the light in pursuit.

S_hit and fried eggs._

The flesh on his back crawled, knowing somewhere behind him in the racing black night Arcee was closing in on them, pouring on speed and virtually invisible.

He took his hand one hand and closed it over both of his mother's, shaking them where she held on to the front of his tunic.

He turned his head to her as the wind howled in his ears.

"Hold! On!" He shouted as loud as he could. June nodded her understanding, her fists squeezing even tighter and then Jack Darby poured it on.

Half a mile to go in this race. He felt that at any moment Arcee would ram them, spin them out of control, or pluck his mom off the back of the bike like some horrible monster movie.

_Keep it tight. Warehouse district. I'll have to slow down! _

He did just that. He had to. Heading for a turn he knew was coming up as they raced towards the many buildings that made up the industrial park. There were streetlights here on this stretch of road and he hit the first row of them, risking a look back in his mirror again.

Arcee was ten feet behind him.

_Holy fuck!_

And as they hit the light of the streetlamps, she dropped all subterfuge and her headlight burst into life, extra bright.

He heard his mom scream as he tore his eyes away from the mirror, nearly blinded. Everything lit up in bright white relief and she was directly behind them now, a foot or two from his exhaust.

It was eiry for she didn't bother to use 'Sadie' and this simple disregard for going unnoticed was like a death warrent to Jack.

Airachnid raced up and swerved, her front tire missing Jack's by just inches. He timed his turn just right, before she could recover, and he and his mother were curving down the next street as Airachnid shot past, breaking hard and wobbling.

His mother was shouting something but Jack raced on. There was no time for anything else.

**ooo**

Back here, in the warehouse district of Jasper everything was laid out like a big game of Tetris. He was hoping to loose her here in all the twists and turns. If they were lucky, maybe even ditch the bike and hide. But how smart would that be?

He was already turning down another street as Arcee's headlight cut down the one behind him. He had maybe a two second lead on her.

_Gotta buy some time._

The disadvantage he had was that for some time now, Arcee did most of the driving and Jack was a touch more rusty on a bike than he cared to admit. But this last week had polished him up a little and he was comfortable riding his own wheels again.

The _advantage_ he had was that while Airachnid may have been using Arcee's body, it didn't exactly mean she had her skill. She had fooled everyone, sure, but he couldn't recall when she had ever been really put to the test on the road.

Let's see how she handled some serious driving.

Jack Darby was in a bit of zone now, scared but not terrified, daring but not reckless as the pursuit reached down and touched the speed freak in him where timing and reflexes were all that mattered.

He formed an idea as they sped along, just missing corners in tight turns, whipping around to reverse and zip back the other way, whisking between parked trucks and through open gates. And Airachnid falling just a little behind each time.

_You're no Arcee. She would have been tapping me on the shoulder five minutes ago._

The trouble was his mother. Each second counted and the clock was ticking. Either he soon wiped out and annihilated them both, or he gained enough time to get her off his back.

And when he judge the time was right, he took a _real_ risk and headed straight towards two buildings he had been maneuvering for. He knew this spot from the days of his bike riding as a kid. A narrow, three foot space paved with crushed rock and running the length of the buildings like a narrow strip between two big battleships.

"Omigawd!" He heard his mother's muffled cry. It was all she had time to say, as a second before Airachnid turned down this street in pursuit, Jack Darby shut off his own headlight and zipped right into the shadows.

He let off the throttle immediately, so he wouldn't have to tap the brakes. If there was some garbage here, a bed spring or anything else, they were cooked, but he banged the side of the building only once as his tire wobbled in the rock, revving it enough to just to keep them upright and heading for the narrow band of dim light on the other side.

"Jack!" June cried but he didn't look back. Airachnid wouldn't be fooled for long if that trick worked. At the very least she would have to circle around. If she figured out where they went and tried it herself, maybe she would wipe out.

Jack and June popped out onto the street and Jack turned to head back out towards the end of the warehouse district. Towards a mini-power plant built specifically for the factories here. He could see the spires and conductors now and he knew he had one shot at this.

And idea had come to his mind and really he had no choice. All he was betting on was how the arc-unit had blown Airachnid's cover. Maybe. If that was the case, then perhaps a bit more juice could accomplish more.

Or he was about to try and kill Arcee.

_It's all I got to go on._

He took one more turn and there it was down at the end of the street. A simple chain link fence, and behind it a massive breaker box and power grid. Seeing that, Jack braked so suddenly the back tire came up and June nearly pulled them both off the bike as she was lifted off her seat. The street was perhaps fifty yards long and he needed his mother to hop off here.

"Get off and hide!" He shouted back at her, helping her off by the arm and fishing around in his pockets. After four years of shit like this, June knew better than to argue and she raced away to the right, ducking behind the corner of a small tool shed.

Jack could hear Arcee coming. He knew that sound better than anyone and then swallowing his fear he reached down and neatly cut his oil line with a small pocket knife. He accelerated then, awkwardly and off balance, keeping his leg up and clear of the boiling hot oil as it sprayed out everywhere all over the road behind him.

This was it and he knew it.

As he wobbled down to a stop by the fence and turned his bike back around, smoke was billowing all over the place where the oil had splattered the hot engine block. This mess had less than ten seconds before something bad happened and he revved the engine as hard as he could.

He could see sprays of hot oil back the way he had come, a dull wet glow in the street light. He clicked on his own headlight again.

_Here I am. Come and get me. _

Arcee/Airachnid tore around the corner, far to fast, and Jack timed it with releasing his brake. Her headlight locked on Jack as he raced towards her, his own light right in her face and picking up speed, white smoke everywhere.

_This is gonna hurt_ was all he remembered thinking...and then he laid the bike down.

"What?!" Airachnid gave a startled cry and then she hit the oil and her tire wobbled dangerously. The white smoke, the slick pavement, the bike from Jack's suicide move suddenly rolling towards her...she had less than a second.

She burst out of her vehicle mode, slapping one hand down and flipping high and hard off the pavement to leap over it all. But she was going at speed, oil was everywhere, and she wasn't nearly as agile using Arcee's body as she would have liked.

Her hand slipped, Jack's bike clipped her side just enough, she was going way to fast and pushing off way to hard.

And Jack caught of glimpse of Arcee sailing overhead, out of control, to come smashing down to the ground in a screeching roll thirty yards on. Her momentum took her straight through the fence of the small power plant and into the breakers and the night exploded into sparks.

Jack tumbled to his own stop with a grunt. He didn't wait to see if anything was broken, his adrenaline holding off the inevitable aches and pains. Behind him his bike crashed up against another fence but he didn't notice. He scrambled up to his hands and knees.

Down the street, Arcee was pinned as the whole works shorted out and blasted her and his eyes went wide as he watched her try and pull herself up and away from it. A human would have been dead, grounded in place and fried to a crisp, but a Transformer was a different story. Still, she didn't make it, and the whole miniature power pile blew out, popping resistors and light bulbs up and down the street as lines of white power arced and shorted out across her body.

At some point, June had come running out as Jack got to his feet, pulling him back as some of the oil and spilled fuel caught fire on the road.

"Oh my God! Jack!" Was all she could shout through her helmet. All mother and son could do was watch. Either he had just killed Arcee, or he had gotten rid of Airachnid. Who knows which. Maybe both.

He felt like crying.

They kept backing up, watching the display, and then Arcee did manage it, flinging herself out of the imploding power plant as it finished blowing out and shutting down. Ironically, the three transformers behind her were burning. The edges of her armor were charred to black and glowing red hot and with a dwindling scream she crashed face down just on the road, close to a few spots of burning oil.

She lay very still, steaming in the night.

Mother and son slumped down where they stood. June pulled her helmet off and Jack pulled his goggles and face guard down. She looked a mess. Jack looked worse. He was a mess of oil, he reeked of fumes, and his fancy tunic was ripped up and his arm hurt all over again. He pushed his hood back off his head and looked over at his mother. She stared back at him.

A long moment passed. The air around them smelled like lightning.

"Are you all right? We have maybe two minutes to call someone or...or get out of here." June said, new tears running down her cheeks and she wiped them hastily with the back of her hand. She tried to check Jack for injuries but he stopped her.

"We can't be caught out here like this." Jack groaned, looking back at Arcee.

"Jack, what have you done?" June sniffed.

"What would you have me do?" He looked back at her. Then he climbed to his feet a second time.

"Call Ratchet." He said, slipping his phone out of a pocket and handing it to her after taking a look. At least it wasn't broken. Everything _else_ felt like it was...inside and out.

Then he started limping down the street. June stayed where she was, needing to break down but not knowing what else to do. She wasn't thinking yet what would be said or how they would explain this, but for better or for worse, it was over. She dialed the base.

Jack approached Arcee where she lay, his mind numb, and he knelt down next to her head. She was still hot to the touch.

To his utter relief, she was alive. That much he could tell. Her insulation had held.

"Arcee? Arcee!" He tapped her cheek a little but she didn't move.

He had done this thing to keep secrets. He had made the hard choice to take out Airachnid in a way that might yet keep this all from destroying team Prime. As for almost killing Arcee in the process? Well...he hoped to explain that to her. If she ever woke up.

He would have to talk fast to keep Arcee's secrets back at base, too.

_It would help if she was awake before Ratchet works on her._

Jack felt awful that he was worried the most about keeping things secret. Even now, as he knelt there next to her battered form. Maybe he was in shock. Maybe it wasn't sinking in he may have just fried her brain. He shook her a little, quickly lest he burn his hand.

"Arcee?"

_I didn't flip her into a power plant just to have to 'let the cat out of the bag' as Airachnid bragged. But she was right about one thing...I sure am a bastard._

So if he was damned for trying to keep secrets and keep team Prime alive, then so be it. He would answer for that later. And he would need some answers himself. There were things he had seen and heard this night that would have to be talked about, just between him and his mother.

He could hear her, talking to Ratchet, sniffling. He had tears in his own eyes now, wondering if he had killed Arcee after all. Would she survive? Was she in there? Was Airachnid gone?

So much worry. So many questions. So many secrets.

All he could do now was kneel there and keep tapping her cheek.

"Arcee? Arcee?"

A ground bridge opened up, highlighting mother and son and fallen Autobot in a green sickly light while patches of asphalt and parts of the power plant still burned here and there.

It was going to be a long night.

For everyone.


	16. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Optimus Prime himself came through the land bridge. One moment there was nothing but the swirling vortex of green light and then Prime came through followed quickly by Bumblebee. His arrival startled Jack and June both. And they both cringed with guilt, sickened by the deep feeling of shame that washed over them, though neither knew it of the other. It was like they were caught at something that wasn't easily explained.

In a way, they _were_.

June stood up, Ratchet's voice going unheard over the phone, and stared up at Optimus as if he was some leviathan from Olympus.

"Optimus." She said breathlessly.

"Are you hurt? Where is Airachnid?" His voice rumbled. Even Jack felt it's power and he felt a strange twinge of fear that he might be facing Prime's wrath in the next hour if things turned out for the worst. With Optimus standing there at the ready with his blaster and sword like that, Jack couldn't help it.

"She's gone, Optimus. We've got to get out of here." He said from where he still knelt by Arcee. Optimus knew the necessity of haste and seeing that his two human charges were conscious and talking and that Arcee was _not_, he retracted his weapons and was down the street in three great strides, kneeling down beside her himself. He checked her for a moment and then turned to Bumblebee.

"Bumblebee, see to Miss Darby." He called, the bright yellow scout already coming up to June and touching her gently on the shoulder. She was snapped out of her daydream and turned to look up at him with a weak smile.

"I'm ok." she smiled thinly. Then she turned back. "Wait...Jack!" She cried, running down to him and helping him to stand up, Bumblebee right behind her. Junes eyes were already checking Jack over, seeing as how he took quite a fall and his arm was obviously paining him. Prime looked from one Darby to the next and then he turned Arcee over gently, scooping her up in both arms as easily as he would have one of them. As he stood up, Jack and June stared at Arcee, battered and beaten in Prime's arms and June's eyes welled up again.

"We must return to base. We shall bridge you to a hospital." Prime was already turning back towards the land bridge. Bumblebee had stared at Arcee too, but then he looked around, taking in all the damage and beeping away. There were already sirens in the distance. Must have been quite a display out at the edge of town at this time of night and it sounded like _everyone_ was on the way here.

"I'm ok. Mom's here. I just took a spill." Jack spoke up. "We'll all go back."

Prime turned back to look at June and she just nodded at him when they made eye contact. He turned and took Arcee up the street, going through the bridge without a word.

"Gotta be no traces. Bumblebee grab my bike!" Jack let himself lean on his mom for a moment and the Autobot scout gave him the thumbs up as he ran back up the street to where Jack pointed.

Only then did Jack and June make for the land bridge, letting Bumblebee pass through first, carrying the thrashed up bike almost reverently.

Jack grimaced, stooping to pick up a chunk of fiberglass fender off the road. When he straightened up, he and his mother stared at each and their look spoke volumes.

"Follow my lead on this." he said to his mother.

"Jack, we've got to tell them."

"No we don't. Not everything. It's not as bad as it looks. Just follow my lead until we see how Arcee is doing. We'll tell them _how_ Airachnid did it but nothing more. That she abducted you to get to me again, but everything else can just...wait."

June chewed her lip.

"Jack, I've got to tell _you _something..."

"That can wait too. Just trust me, mom." He sighed, shaking his head. She stared at her son where he sagged a little, his left arm across her shoulders and leaning on her, beat up and tired. Jack raised his hand and stared at the chunk of fender in his hand.

"Come on, let's get in there. Bad enough Ratchet will have noticed Arcee's body modifications by now."

June didn't know what to say, but she knew she had a first-aid kit waiting on the other side. Bracing themselves, the Darby's walked on through the bridge and the night swallowed them up.

**ooo**

Ratchet hadn't noticed anything yet. Arcee looked so rough, he and Optimus had taken her right into the rejuvenation chamber and hooked her up. Prime stepped back away first and turned to Jack and June. June helped Jack down into a folding chair as Bumblebee made to head off for the human medical bay. Jack spared a moment to note no one else was present. Rafael must have been home and there was no sign of Miko and Bulkhead. What was even better, no Fowler.

Fowler was full of questions he didn't hesitate to ask.

June called out to Bumblebee.

"Bumblebee, wait! I'll come too. Take me with you." She was pointedly not looking at Optimus.

Bumblebee turned to her, beeping his concern. She had an idea what he was asking and kept it together as long as she was in front of Optimus.

"No, I'm fine. It's Jack who took a spill. I want to grab a few extra things."And at that he scooped her up as easily as he would Rafael and trotted away. Prime watched them go and turned back to Jack as Ratchet came bustling out of the chamber now, all business. He went over to the controls and immediately engaged the chamber door and it slid down into place.

As the chamber filled with it's bubbling lubricants of blue energon, Prime spoke.

"Airachnid." He said and Jack braced himself.

"Optimus, I don't think we have a lot of time. Airachnid took over Arcee. She took over her body and came after mom and I tonight."

"What!?" Ratchet called out. Prime waited as Ratchet joined him and Jack fought down the feeling of interrogation that crept over him as the two Autobot's stood over him, telling himself it was just his own guilty conscience.

"Arcee was on the internet and Airachnid set a trap for her. It's _that_ simple. Tonight, she came into town and abducted mom. She was gunning for us both."

Prime said nothing but Ratchet spluttered aloud.

"You mean...why you...you should have said something when you stopped in! How long have you know this? And is that the chameleon suit!? What did you think you were doing?" The old medic fired off the questions as they came to him, his ire apparent.

"Ratchet..." Prime spoke.

"She was holding mom hostage. I took her on myself. I got mom away from her and she chased us down. You can see the rest for yourself." Jack answered Ratchet but he looked up at Optimus. Optimus turned to look into the rejuvenation chamber.

"And just how did you manage to...how long was she...what did you..._well, what happened here_!?" Ratchet spluttered..

Prime turned back.

"Ratchet, secure the chamber and engage security protocols. Disengage the base from all networks and isolate our systems. Disarm Arcee's weapons."

"I tricked her. I knocked her into a power plant and...and it fried her." Jack added without being asked.

"Fried her!? I would say so! Why, Arcee is..." And then Ratchet grew still, looking from Jack to Prime and then to Arcee. He looked back down at Jack Darby. Jack stared at him with such a bleak expression, Ratchet's mouth snapped shut.

"Time is of the essence, Doctor." Prime intoned. Ratchet said nothing more, turning to hurry over to the main computer, keying up the system and locking it down.

"How is she?" Jack asked Optimus.

"She has taken extensive damage, but she lives. Ratchet will see to her once we are secure." Prime said nothing more. He seemed to be mulling something over and he looked over at Arcee again. The chamber was pulsing like a great Olympic pool, already at work on her body.

Her mind was another matter.

"Did Airachnid say anything more?" Optimus asked.

"She gloated. I couldn't get to many straight answers out of her. But it was her."

"Then we must take necessary precautions. In all probability, we have been completely compromised here." He turned fully towards Arcee and spoke again before Jack could say anything more.

"I believe you did what you could, Jack." He said without looking back. Optimus stood there as mighty as he ever was, his hands curled into fists at his sides as he stared in to the chamber. For the moment they said nothing to each other and only the sounds of the great reinforced medical chamber were to be heard as it gurgled and hissed.

Jack sighed heavily, noting that his arm was _really_ starting to hurt. The exo-frame wasn't working as smoothly as it should and his knee was throbbing where he had slammed it down hard on the pavement. He winced as he pulled his face guard and goggles up and off with his left hand from where they hung around his neck.

_First time I wiped out. Yeah...big time._

"What now?" He asked. He couldn't look into the chamber. He didn't dare.

"Now we must face reality. If Arcee recovers, it remains to be seen if Airachnid's presence remains _and _how long she was in control. Never the less, the base is compromised for even if Airachnid has been _removed_ we cannot count on the hope her mind has been extinguished. If and when she returns to her body, she will surely use her knowledge of our base's location and it's inner workings to barter her way back into Megatron's favor."

"But if she's been...chased out with no body present to return to? Surely that would kill her?" Jack was rocked to his core. He had been so busy worrying about personal secrets he hadn't realized a Decepticon, a rogue one at that, had had the run of Autobot base.

_Oh shit._

"Creatures like Airachnid undoubtedly have many means to preserve their sparks. And many fail safes. But if we are fortunate, we may yet capture her mind here. That is why Ratchet has isolated our systems before he continues Arcee's treatment. However...in considering the facts, the base may very well be lost."

Jack felt sick. It came back to him Airachnid had boasted of that very thing, that she was very patient and picking her moment. Prime was right, she would have planned for almost any contingency. Especially one that planned for the worst outcome. Wouldn't she? Or had she felt herself untouchable? How much could they really count on Airachnid severing her ties with the Decepticons fully? It wasn't likely. No one was better at exploitation than Airachnid...except maybe Starscream.

And what was even more horrible was that Prime seemed to wish for Airachnid to still be present in Arcee's mind. And Jack was hoping she wasn't, for if Airachnid awoke a prisoner, she would sing like a bird for all to hear. Either way...the base remained lost.

Nothing changed the fact that Airachnid's webs of intrigue still threatened everything.

And lastly, he could no longer hold off the simple horror of what he had done to Arcee. And that she might not ever wake up. Sitting this close to her, her silent form submersed in the energon bath, her legs and arms splayed out and connected to tubes, one at her temple, Jack just stared at her through the glass. He started to shake.

Bumblebee and his mother came back into Central command at a trot, June's arms full of supplies and Bumblebee carrying a portable scanner like a handbag.

It didn't help matters that Jack Darby turned in his seat...and threw up all over the floor.


	17. A few words

**A few words**

And so that's it! The great lemon merging has finished. Whew! Writing this was like trying to hold water in a shape with just my hands. It was touch and go, threatening to spill over and make a mess at any moment and it was no easy feat to keep people in the dark about Airachnid and still make it believable. But such as it was, I think I kept everyone on character, satisfied some smut, and wrapped it up 'ok'. Looks like I couldn't resist making this more and more a real adventure once I tied both lemons together. Because that's the thing I have been wanting to say. Just how many times can you write about sex and keep it fresh and interesting? I hope you were all pleasantly surprised about Airachnid and didn't see that one coming. Half of my lemon readers were not liking the way things were going, with one reader out right saying they weren't coming back. And then one reader believed I was just resetting the story.

Well, I have always encouraged everyone to have their say for good or bad so I'll clear up a few points.

I had that idea for Airachnid for some time and was pleased with the results for many readers have asked for Airachnid in the lemons. I even shelved a lemon story temporarily that was solely about her so I could finish_ this_ story arc off first.

Which leads to the question what now?

Now we head down a new road as we find out where _everyone _goes from here. There's going to be _a_ _lot _of fallout and impact both good and bad, so we'll see. But this is going to lead to some new encounters, some new stories, some new 'smexy' pairings and maybe even the rekindling of others. This is what I intended and it's what I like to think the lemons needed to go on. If I hadn't done this, I would have stopped writing them. And now, quite satisfyingly, there's much more to go on.

So while things have been 'reset' more or less, they're _not _back to normal by a long shot. There will be fundamental changes to the dynamic that will give me more to work with and _not_ be so off character that it puts readers off the story, but will try to satisfy all.

The one thing I try to aim for, lemon or not, is to make it believable.

Airachnid's corruption will mean some harsh truths come to light. Where is she? Is she dead? Is she still in control? Will Arcee survive? How will each character deal with what they know? And what they know of each other? Can mother face son? Will son face mother? Prime? Ratchet? Miko?

All I can say is thanks for reading and all your time and feedback, everybody. I have read every review and they are all greatly appreciated. Stay tuned, Arcee Ascendant will continue in part 2! There's more to come, and a new poll is up in the forum or my profile. :) - Prander


	18. Part Two

Part Two

The tremors of Airachnid's attack on the Autobot's and the Darby family run deep. Arcee remains in stasis, heavily damaged, as team Prime struggles to get answers. June has returned home in secret shame and Jack Darby finds himself torn between two worlds with all the secrets he carries within him. The future is bleak without Arcee and he struggles to come to terms with what he has done...and what he should do now.


	19. Damage Control

**Damage Control **

"Our hands are not as tied as they seem." Ratchet observed. "We have a dozen safeguards in place to prevent the Decepticon's from bridging in. And we have the means to spot their warship approaching within two hundred miles of here. If Airachnid did have some type of _deadman's _switch in place to contact Megatron, or if she contacted him personally, he would _surely_ have been here by now."

It sounded all well and good but still Autobot base had been quarantined for the last forty eight hours, everyone on alert to begin evacuating at the first sign of trouble.

"But Airachnid is a clever old bug. Maybe she has a terminal of her own hidden somewhere off base. Not to mention wherever she's holed up." Bulkhead rumbled.

"It would not do underestimate her, but Ratchet does have a valid point." Prime interjected, turning to look at them both.

"However, base security remains our first and foremost priority as we wait to learn what we will from Arcee." He turned back to study his fallen warrior through armored glass.

In an all to human gesture, Optimus had rested his hand on Ratchet's control terminal as if in silent support of Arcee's slumbering form.

"Yeah. Arcee." Bulkhead grated, rubbing his massive chin and giving Arcee another worried look of his own.

All three of them stood quietly near Arcee's rejuvenation chamber, watching her through the swirling current of suspense-energon. Ratchet adjusted a few more controls, the terminal blinking rapidly with Arcee's vitals. His face betrayed nothing.

Prime turned back to them after a moment and dropped his hand.

"That being said...Bulkhead, you and I and Bumblebee shall continue going over the base with agent Fowler. And Rafael shall continue assessing our computer systems until I feel we can stand down from high alert."

"With a fine toothed comb." Ratchet mumbled.

"What was that, Doc?" Bulkhead looked at him.

"Nothing."

"But Optimus, when Arcee wakes back up and we know for sure, there's a good chance Airachnid's still out there somewhere. You said so yourself." Bulkhead added.

"We'll worry about that Scraplet when we come to it." Ratchet cut in. "Be about your work, now. At some point we'll need our networking back or we'll never find her." And he switched off the display on the medical readout just as Bulkhead leaned over to take a peek.

"How is it lookin'?" The massive Wrecker rumbled.

"There are things at work here my instruments cannot read. This equipment is...crude and a little rudimentary when it comes to our minds. And yet, you came through it all right when that ancient data cylinder rewrote your memory capacity. But since I don't know what to look for..." He let the sentence hang.

"So Airachnid might still be in there, huh?" Bulkhead straightened up.

"We will keep Arcee secured. And we will wait as long as it takes." Prime finished as he turned away.

**ooo**

Jack watched Optimus and Bulkhead head out of central command from his place on the couch. It sat on the landing overlooking central command, along with the other furniture set aside for the human members of the team. Below at the main computer, Rafael tapped away, immersed in his diagnostics and Miko was being quiet for a change, flipping through a guitar magazine and sitting on the coffee table near at hand.

After the initial rush of activity and all the inevitable questions from Fowler, plus a few other things he had seen to, Jack had come right back to central command. He sat there now, a blanket around his shoulders and watching Ratchet work. The old medic stayed close, monitoring the rejuvenation chamber constantly and from time to time Jack would stare at the huge glowing tube filled with blue energon. And the outline suspended therein.

He sighed.

Rafael had been busy all day ferreting out what turned out to be a bread crumb trail of Airachnid's meddling in their systems. A slow appropriation of some supplies and material. No one could relax until they found the rest of what she had taken, or how much damage she had done. Or _what_ she had done, for that matter. But it was a relief that the lack of a Decepticon warship in the sky overhead was simple proof she hadn't gotten word out to Megatron.

Yet.

Eight hours ago, Bumblebee and Jack had bridged out to the old abandoned airport and Jack had been able to recover even more 'evidence' and keep it under wraps, but it was obvious Airachnid had been making up another lair and there were several crates of supplies and other nefarious items.

Jack had chewed his fingernails as Ratchet had gone through it all, but he came up with nothing that could implicate the Darby's sexual trysts.

That didn'tmean he was completely in the dark.

For it was obvious to Jack that Ratchet must know _something _by now, what with all the scans he had preformed on Arcee since the night before last.

And _still_ he hadn't said anything. Unless Jack was mistaken he was even keeping the results quiet, in a vague sort of way, answering only direct questions but volunteering nothing.

Arcee still hadn't woken up and every hour that went by was torture. When he didn't need to be elsewhere Jack had stayed in central the whole time. Even sleeping on the couch and taking his meals here.

His mother, after patching up his scrapes and bruises that first night, had collaborated with Ratchet to reset his arm in the exo-frame. _That_ had been fun. And then, with her own measure of unease and heavily troubled mind, she had just went home. All that needed to be said between them would come later.

His story about breaking his arm and his wild dune buggy escapades out in the sands seemed tame after everything that had happened. And Ratchet seemed to accept his simple explanation for having the Chameleon armor in his room as the careless curiosity of your average nineteen year old.

He would rather they all think him impulsive than have to explain hunting Decepticon patrols by himself like some 'sand dune ninja'. Although he felt a strange vibe from Prime and knew his reputation was probably taking a bit of hit.

_Whatever._

So mom went home. And when he was sure she was safe, with minor details like her car and all that taken care of, Jack had returned to base. He needed to be here for Arcee. And himself.

But then there was Ratchet and the way he was acting.

Jack chewed his lip a little.

Well, it's not like he wasn't expecting it. In fact he wished the old surgeon would just get it over with. Because Ratchet keeping a lid on whatever he had noticed was a little unnerving.

Maybe it was Fowler's fault Jack was feeling a little paranoid.

Fowler had a lot more questions because he had a lot more on his mind. Cause and effect were the nemesis of that old warhorse, because he was the liaison for the US government to the Autobot's. And the government usually wanted answers yesterday.

His questions had been well meant, but they were _just_ that much more involved and Jack felt a tiny seed of doubt in his mind that he could easily come under scrutiny for his own actions. So could his mom. The Autobots didn't make him feel that way. Trust was the center of their world. But for the government and agent's like Fowler? Getting answers was the center of theirs.

Jack rubbed a hand over his face.

What would they say if I told them I think Airachnid altered Arcee's sexual bio-fluids to drug myself and my mom? How would that sound?

It had _felt_ like a drug, sure enough. It had affected both him and his mother with a sexual fever and libido that had almost been disastrous. That was what Airachnid had intended. The nightmare was not knowing where his own sexual hang-ups ended and the altered bio-fluid's influence began. What was inspired by Airachnid and what was already there to be encouraged. And thinking that, it loomed over Jack the inevitable talk with his mother.

_Can't think about that right now._

He was pretty sure the effects had worn off. But then how would he know? So sitting there he ran it over in his mind again.

Airachnid always inter-laced truth with lies and insults, right? She had admitted to when she took over Arcee's body and it _did_ chime with how Arcee had begun acting differently.

I believe her, because I think she was bragging. Gloating how she was more 'hardcore' than Arcee. It was right around the time I noticed a change. And _felt_ a change in myself.

And since I haven't been howling at the moon and craving raw meat, I think it's passed. The only acting out I have done was hunting Con's and who's to say where that came from? Mom...did what she did. But nothing changes the fact these last ten days at home things were pretty much normal and I felt a lot better.

Yeah, until you learned for certain your mother was having sex with your Autobot girlfriend. And what if mom was seeing Arcee _before_ that? You're just _assuming_ how much mom was affected. You don't _really _know and you _don't_ want to go talk with her. You don't know what went on or for how long.

But I have a pretty good idea.

_ Oh man, I can't do this to myself right now! _

Jack rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers, his eyes squeezed shut, a move not lost on Miko.

I've been sitting around thinking about this in circles ever since we bridged back. I'll worry about mom later! But I've got to say something to Ratchet soon if he doesn't say something himself. If he mentions anything to Prime or Fowler first, the whole works will snowball.

The cat is howling to be let out of the bag.

And if and when he does get it over with, I've got to be careful. I don't _know _what he's found out but if I give him any reason to worry, he would have to take it all to Prime. And rightly so. And the team would be finished just like that. Mom and I would be suspect. Tainted. And at the very least subject to all manner of questions and tests. Which mom would _never _go along with. All of us, Arcee included, humiliated and disgraced if we're forced to explain. Then it would come to light about Prime and mom too. Like a chain reaction.

_Talk about a Pandora's box. Everything wouldn't just fall apart, it would blow apart! _

Somehow rubbing his eye with his fingers until spots danced in his vision helped. Then he dropped his arm and leaned his head back, staring up at the far off ceiling.

Still...it could have been worse.At least his explanation about Airachnid was taken at face value and the fallout wasn't as bad as Prime had first made out. Fowler had had a fit about the power plant but in being made to see reason, after he questioned Jack, he turned his anger on Airachnid instead and cursed her out soundly.

And that was _another_ thing. What Jack failed to mention were his _own_ little appropriations from the human arsenal and now the place was being turned inside out.

_Terrific. _

If he was found out, he would explain then. Or try to.

Earlier, as Jack grabbed a bottle of water and a sandwich from the cafeteria, there were a few agents moving about the place. They were here checking the human arsenal with Fowler. If they found anything missing he was hoping they would blame Airachnid if it came down to it. Or maybe they wouldn't and Jack's reputation would be shot all to hell.

_Whatever. I don't care. Worry about if it happens. It's just one more secret._

Jack raised his head and went back to staring at the floor.

Fowler had made him feel a little defensive, all things considered. But strangely, the very lack of questioning from the Autobot's made him feel guilty. They even took it at face value what Jack had had to do to Arcee.

What happens if she doesn't wake up? The team could break apart in so many different ways and here I sit trying to make sense of it all with the lies just piling up and crisscrossing in my head.

_What a tangled web we weave, when we first practice to deceive._

The agents had just nodded at Jack as they finished their own meals and he had left the cafeteria to limp back here to central. As he sat there, the sandwich untouched and the blanket wrapped around him like an old man, he felt like pulling his hair out.

**ooo**

Miko eyed the dry sandwich. She tossed the magazine down and turned more towards Jack from where she sat, her eyes down and rummaging through the other reading material they had here at the base. She had been listening to Prime, Bulkhead and Ratchet herself and she felt Jack needed a little cheering up. Plus, she was hoping he would note what she had picked out to wear today, going so far as to lean on one hand and stretch out a little towards him. Would he notice her?

"Want me to go get a pizza?" she asked, looking up with a sudden smile. Jack didn't look at her. He just gave his head a small shake as he went back to staring at Ratchet. Miko was looking painfully sexy in her seventeenth year, bright eyed and indomitable, but all she did for Jack was make him feel older and more beat up than his nineteen years should permit. More than his bruises and scrapes let on.

Jack had a funny expression on his face all of a sudden.

Miko turned to see Ratchet on his way over and she grimaced.

_Dammit!_

Taking a quick peak to see that Rafael didn't over-hear, she turned back to Jack and reigned in some of her spunkiness. If anything, she looked a touch nervous.

"How about...how about I bring one back later tonight and we can both wait for Arcee to wake up. Maybe bring a movie?"

Jack just turned and stared at her, unfazed and numb, his face blank.

Miko cringed and hopped up. "Rafael likes extra cheese!" She added lamely and headed for the steps to catch up with Bulkhead.

Jack turned to wait for Ratchet as the old medic watched Miko to run down the steps and then out of central command. Then he turned to Jack with a expression that was hard to read.

"You and I have to talk." he said in a low voice.

Jack sighed.

"I know."


	20. Atlas

**Atlas**

A total of two times in almost four years Jack had been inside Ratchet's quarters. At times the old medic would grouse that he _did_ have a life beyond central command, but it was more for show than anything else for it was clear to everyone that Ratchet loved what he did and thrived off the work. So central command was like his home, him being as permanent a fixture there as the land bridge itself.

But he _did_ power down and he did have his privacy and for a little while he had even been plagued by a rash of curiosity from 'the children' trying to get inside his room and have a look around. The same as pestering an old uncle or a grandfather to get a look inside his tool shed. But then they grew more involved in the War and such harmless boredom became a thing of the past. Jack had never really bothered. It had been Miko talking Raf into one of her own little adventures. But at one time Jack did harbor his own curiosity about it.

Now though? As he followed Ratchet into his room, the blanket around his shoulders and feeling tired, all he looked for was a place to sit down. He was more tired than he realized and felt drained rather than excited that the moment had come with Ratchet.

Ratchet keyed the door shut behind him and turned to watch Jack Darby find a human sized box and plop down on it with a world weary slump.

The boy had been sullen and withdrawn since the night he battled Airachnid, adding even more to his quiet and reserved nature. It wasn't lost on any of them what it must have cost Jack to do what he did to Arcee. But there was more to it. There had to be. And Ratchet was fairly certain he knew what it was.

Jack sat there and actually managed a yawn, finally deigning to look around at Ratchet's room a little. It was darker than what human eyes were used to, but light enough. And true to form, it was packed with all manner of every odds and ends that a person could imagine. Ratchet was rather no nonsense but at least here his hobbies, work, medical expertise and passion for tinkering all blended into one big orderly mess. Several huge tables were lined with all manner of tech in various states of repair or experimentation and lights blinked here and there from the shadows. It was every inch the scientists playground.

Jack couldn't begin to understand half of what he looked at it...and he didn't care. He rubbed a hand over his face again. Ratchet walked over to him.

"How are you feeling?" Ratchet asked. He put his hands on his hips, appraising the small little human who sat so sullen in his quarters.

"I'm ok."

"It's my belief that human beings have probably ten different ways to say they are 'ok' in dozens of different languages."

Jack looked up at him. "The arm's fine. The exo-frame is fine. The bruises are nothing. My knee hurts, but it's just a goose egg."

Ratchet raised an eyebrow.

"A lump. A bump. A big bruise where I hit the hardest when I went down." Jack explained.

"Ah, yes. I'll have to remember that. And how would you be feeling otherwise?" As always, Jack felt Ratchet struggled with the nature of these questions. He looked up at him.

"It's always a little tough for you, isn't it? Feelings?"

His frankness left Ratchet a little nonplussed, so he dropped the clinical approach and turned to his own seat with a sigh, a huge reinforced chair that looked like a throne if it had been for anyone else but Ratchet. He sat down, sitting back and resting both hands on the arm rests, gathering his thoughts as looking at Jack. Jack just sat there, hunched forward, elbows on his thighs, the blanket draped around him and staring up back at him.

"I suppose they are. At least human feelings." Ratchet said after a moment. "A disadvantage here on Earth. There's so much to know and half of it doesn't make much sense without at least some rudimentary understanding of human emotions and relationships. But it's not lost on me that other Transformers have grasped them quicker than I have."

"Doc, I feel _exactly_ like someone who had to run for his life and wiped out on a bike. What are you trying to say here?" Jack asked. It was a little obvious and Jack just wanted to cut to the chase.

"What do you know of the modifications to Arcee's body?"

So there it was. It's not like he didn't expect this. Not like he hadn't rehearsed what he was going to say, but suddenly he couldn't help but feel like a person who has been 'found out' and it made him feel even more tired.

"Modifications." Jack said.

Ratchet added nothing more but he did take out a small data pad and tap it thoughtfully in the palm of his other hand.

"I know about them." Jack answered, shrugging his blanket up around himself some more and waiting.

"I rather assumed you did." Ratchet leaned forward and held the data pad down to Jack, who took it and straightened up a little. Sure enough, it was a diagram of Arcee's body from a medical scan done by the rejuvenation chamber. He couldn't make much of it but it was clear enough what the medical sensors made of Arcee's breasts. Her bio-engineered pressure fabric breasts complete with sensor nipples that she had modified her body with when she became a sexual being with Jack Darby. There they were, highlighted bright red under her armor, the rest of her looking like a transparent schematic. Under any other circumstances it would have almost been comical, seeing them like this.

"We Transformers make slight modifications to our own bodies all the time. It's common. But these stand out just a bit to much."

_Stand out._

Despite himself and all the aches of the world, Jack could not suppress a tiny all to human smile. The first traces of humor to touch his face in weeks. But it was black humor to match how he felt.

"I don't see how this is a matter for humor." Ratchet noted a little stiffly.

"It's not, it's not. It's a human thing." Jack grimaced as he looked up at Ratchet and handed the data pad back.

"Is that what I am supposed to tell Optimus? It's a human thing?" Ratchet took it back, his face serious.

Jack wilted a little.

"So you do mean to tell Optimus, then?"

"You say that as if you knew I would seek you out first." Ratchet tapped a button and locked the data pad contents away.

Jack wiped his lips with his fingers. He went on.

"In a way, yeah. I was hoping you would because..."

"Just a moment." Ratchet interrupted him. "Jack, you should know I am aware of patient confidentiality. The concept is not unique to human medical personal."

"Well I'm glad, because this is actually very serious and...private."

"I understand. I may not be very good at human emotions but I _can_ identify with my own kind. I know we are few. Since being scattered across the galaxy, Autobot's have partnered with other non-Cybertronian races than just humans. That being said I am not even sure how much I should press you on this matter since relationships of this nature baffle me. And that's my moral quandary."

"Moral quandary?"

"Where can I draw the line between my people's own privacy and that which must be brought to Optimus's attention? For the good of all."

So Ratchet felt Arcee and Jack's relationship ran deeper.

"Well, I would think that was obvious, Ratchet. Arcee would want this to _remain_ private, I can assure you." Jack rubbed his hands on his jeans.

Ratchet leaned forward in his seat and steepled his fingers. It added to the sense of confidentiality and his own difficulty in saying what he was compelled too.

"It's not that simple, Jack. Not when we're dealing with Airachnid here. I have to weigh all the facts when our enemy puts our very survival at stake. We're turning the place inside out looking for evidence of Airachnids infiltration and then I find these modifications in place. They've been bio-engineered and yet their function remains a mystery. It's why I have decide to first confide in you, her...partner first."

"Go on."

"You have stated when you believe Airachnid took control of Arcee's body. Were these modifications in place before hand?"

"Yes. Yes, they were."

That should have been the end of it. It wasn't.

"Since I am unclear of their purpose, I have to ask. Did Airachnid makes use of them in any way?"

So I have one chance here. Ratchet brought me in here to confide in me. But while he's close to the truth, he doesn't really _know_ anything. He doesn't know about the sex. Ignorance is bliss. But he's ready to take it all to Optimus and like I worried about earlier, that would be a disaster.

I know I am not under Airachnid's influence. I know I am _me_. I am not a security risk. Neither is mom. And we're still waiting for Arcee to wake up.

What if she's still Airachnid? Am I living on borrowed time here? How long do I have before everyone knows about the sex?

If only Arcee would wake up as Arcee.

So what to do?

So...so I deflect Ratchet. Abuse the Autobot's trust one more time. And and it's just one more secret added to Jack Darby's ledger, right? Yeah, that's just great. But I would rather preserve Arcee's dignity. And mom's and Prime's and my own.

I would tell Ratchet anything at this point.

Jack sniffed and looked Ratchet in the eye.

"No, she didn't use them. Doc. All I can tell you is that I _am _aware of them, I know what they do, and it _is_ a private matter. For Arcee's sake, I can tell you if you _had_ to know these things about her, she would trust in your confidence. So I'm asking for us _both_ that you believe me. Airachnid had control of her body, but she didn't _know_ her body."

"She can trust in Optimus's confidence as well." Ratchet noted.

"Her privacy and her dignity are very important to her and enough has happened already. Please, just think of at it as her doctor."

Ratchet sat for a moment, thoughtful.

_ I am armed only with educated guesses. Jack really has not made my decision any easier. So what shall I do? Trust in my own people, and the humans, as they would trust me? _

"Very well. It will be as you say." Ratchet said after a moment and inside Jack sagged with relief.

"I shall trust to Arcee's and your own discretion. And while Optimus must be kept up to date on her condition, I will forgo what I know in light of patient confidentiality."

It was almost like he was making a formal announcement as a medical Autobot and he stood up as he finished speaking.

"We should go back to central. And you should power down." Ratchet added.

"I need some sleep." Jack smiled weakly.

"Of course." The old medic replied as turned towards the door.

_And I will scan you a third time as you do sleep. For it seems we all have our secrets, Jack. I __ran a chemical analysis on you both. There are traces elements to be found all throughout your body from Arcee's bio-fluids. And in that, you have no idea how precarious my decision is. I should press you for more, but I shall trust you instead._

Ratchet opened the door and turned back, watching as Jack Darby stood up and trudged out into the hallway. His spark went out to the boy a little. After all, he did stop Airachnid. At a _great_ personal cost. Arcee was in a bad way. She had only marginally improved in forty eight hours. And that was just her body.

_I'll spare him that knowledge for now._

**ooo**

As Ratchet walked off, having been told he would soon follow, Jack stood there holding the blanket around himself, watching him go. He felt like a general looking out over a battlefield on rainy morning.

But the battlefield was in his mind.

He turned and leaned against the wall of the corridor. All these secrets and white lies went against his nature. He hated how they felt. How they lined up in his mind and looped back on each other like a broken tape.

At least with Ratchet, he had held off disaster for one more day.

_One more piece of bubblegum stuffed into the cracks of the dam. One more day I keep team Prime alive. _

The weight of this pushed down on him, body and soul, and he sighed.

And in that moment, as he leaned there by himself, Jack Darby quietly changed inside.

He changed from what he knew of all that had happened. Of everyone involved. And with what he had to keep to himself for the sake of others. All the lies, secrets, wounded pride, trust and feelings. How he had been taken advantage of, and how he had taken advantage of others. And how it would go on.

It was a nightmare.

He alone knew that team Prime hovered on the brink. And he knew whose fault this was. The bitch had nearly succeeded and she still might. Airachnid's legacy would echo throughout everything after this point on.

Because when he changed he had a new thought, a new_ feeling_, and he didn't even question it's sincerity. It wasn't wishful thinking or boasting or displaced anger or frustration.

It was a simple thought, allowing for no other outcome. For he just simply _believed_ what he told himself, without question, and he truly was that sixteen year old kid no longer.

_No matter what happens, when I find Airachnid...I'm going to kill her. _

Then he stood up...and walked back to central.


	21. Safe and Sound

**Safe and Sound **

Jack stretched out on the couch and stared up at the far off ceiling of the base. Under normal circumstances, at this time of night, it might have even been peaceful here. The base was warm enough and quiet, with little activity, and the computer banks and equipment offered a nice background hum. Plus, with the lights low, the rejuvenation chamber's swirling current of energon tinted everything in soft blue swirls that rolled over the surfaces in the room and mixed with the shadows. It was like being in a pool at night.

It helped him sleep and for a while, earlier, he had done just that. Despite people coming and going and half a dozen bridging, Jack Darby had slept through it all. He wasn't awake when Fowler and the agent's left. Or when Bulkhead came rumbling back from a scout. He didn't even twitch when Optimus met Ratchet for a second time and they talked quietly at length by Arcee's med-chamber.

And when Ratchet himself made sure all was well, he dimmed the lights and went off into the base on his own.

Jack had come to _then, _perhaps the lack of noise more noticeable then the noise itself for he had bivouacked in central command like this many times over the years.

So he slowly opened his eyes and laid there, shifting around eventually to get comfortable and feeling no more sleep in him tonight. He was keeping strange hours and was hungry and at one point he would have to get up and hit the bathroom. Wouldn't be the first time he showered and shaved at two in the morning.

He put an arm behind his head, glad for some quiet. And glad for a quiet mind. His sleep had worked wonders and everything didn't seem so stirred up and deeply emotional at the moment. That wonderful peace you have just after waking when you're not thinking about being awake just yet. He would pick up his mental checklist and torture himself later. Time enough for that.

It also felt pretty good to think about some food. Any food. The three young adults of team Prime kept a small cooler up here now with all manner of drink, but if you wanted food, the cafeteria was the place to be.

Jack sat up, stretching, fighting to get his socks straight and flinging the clingy blanket off him as he looked over at the rejuvenation chamber.

The horror at what he had done was slowly being replaced with a quiet, resigned sorrow, for there was no telling_ when _Arcee would stir. And everyone had waited so long already. Like the wait to board an airplane or for your name to be called out at the doctor's office, the wait itself took on that strange timeless limbo and he had wrung himself out for two weeks now waiting for Arcee to come to.

When she did, it would hardly seem real.

Jack pulled on his boots and was half way down the steps, rubbing his eyes, when he heard a tapping come from Arcee's chamber.

He stopped short, stunned.

Did he hear right?

But it wouldn't be the first time fate had chosen the most unlikely moment possible. He jumped the last four steps and ran over to the rejuvenation chamber, skidding to a halt and slapping his hands up against the armored glass.

"Arcee?" he peered into the murky energon.

He could see her now, her outline muddled, a deeper blue immersed in the energon bath. She was slouched forward, on her hands and knees where she had pulled herself out of the harness. The hoses were still attached all over her body, but it was obvious she had moved and even as he stared she reached out one hand and tapped her fingers against the glass!

"Arcee!" Jack cried, holding his hand over her own where she pressed it against the other side. He never imagined such a moment could really be so profound. It was like something out of the movies!

"I'll get Ratchet!" he cried, fighting down a lump in his throat.

"Jack?" He heard her ask, her voice muffled and thick, like speaking under water. She knew him! She was ok!

"I'm right here!" He blinked hard, everything else forgotten in that moment.

Arcee pushed forward a little, he could see her turn her head some and she raised her other hand up to the glass, disorientated and foggy.

"Where am I?"

"I'll get Ratchet! You've been hurt." He looked over his shoulder, torn in two how he wanted to stay right there but also needing to find Ratchet fast.

As he turned back, Arcee slammed her face up against the glass, at eye level with him and glaring at him with blazing purple eyes. Jack cried out, more horrified than he had ever been.

"And it's all your fault, you little _fucker_!" She snarled at him, bloody red bubbles rolling out of her mouth.

"Let me out of heeeeere!" She started screaming, dragging her fingers down the glass, scouring them with a horrible screech, gnawing at the glass with a fang filled mouth.

**ooo**

Jack Darby came off the couch and out of his nightmare with a shout. His shins hit the coffee table and he fell over it, slamming a hand down on it's top to stop himself. In the dark, his mind still foggy, a shape loomed right next to him by the couch and he lashed out blindly with a fist.

He felt and heard the dull crunch of cardboard, followed immediately by a startled, girlish yelp. Somehow he caught the scent of perfume and pizza as something fell back away from him.

Miko yelped in surprise as Jack Darby flew up off the sofa, tripped over his own feet, and punched the pizza box up straight up out of her hands. She pulled back, turning her head away as everything was smashed up towards her face, her eyes wide as Jack's swing barely missed her. Her feet must have been bolted to the floor, because in her shock she lost her balance and plopped right down most ungraciously on her butt.

"Ow!"

Some of the pizza rained down on the steel floor around her and the folded up cardboard box ended up in her lap. Then it was over. She lowered her arms and opened one eye before slapping both hands down on the floor, glaring up at Jack.

"Dude! Omigawd!" She spat before shoving the box off her lap with a disgusted grimace.

"Miko!" Jack gasped, blinking hard and breathing harder. He dropped back down onto the sofa and grabbed his shins. "What the _fuck_ are you trying to do!? Give me a heart attack!?" he said, his voice a lash as he rubbed his legs.

The F-word shocked her, evaporating Miko's outrage, and she sprang to her feet..

"I'm sorry, Jack." She gasped, her eyes wide.

"When are you gonna learn to mind your own business? Better yet, when are you gonna learn to leave me the hell alone!?" He shook his head, his bruised knee paining him. "Christ, as if things don't hurt enough already!" He gave the coffee table a push and she jumped back a pace away from him. He didn't look at her he just slumped back and stared at the ceiling, breathing hard.

She was pale and had two bright red spots on her cheeks.

For some reason lately Miko's usual firebrand outlook on life found itself easily quenched around Jack Darby. She had always been a hard charger, even when she was young. Fearless, bold, this was the girl who hefted a fire axe once on a speeding train while facing down Mech agents. But one look from Jack Darby lately, four years later, and she felt herself go tongue tied, clumsy and uncertain. And when he smiled at her she tingled from head to toe. She didn't know why, but she knew she liked it. And she knew she liked him.

His anger though, was the absolute _worst_. And while she would have been ready to lash back at anyone who talked to her in this manner, when it was _Jack_ she felt nothing but mortified horror.

Quite uncharacteristically she just dropped to her knees, scrambling to snatch up triangle shaped pieces of pizza stack them up on the bent up box.

_I won't cry. I won't cry. I won't cry._

But finally she gave it up and hopped to her feet, bolting for the stairs.

"Miko!" Jack called but she wasn't stopping.

"Miko, wait!" Jack came up off the couch, stepped on one of slices and went down with a crash and another curse.

"Gaw_dammit._" he groaned, wrenching his bruised knee something fierce this time. And just when it had been feeling better. From this angle, practically flat on his face, he saw Miko reappear over the top step leading down off the landing. Then she was running back _up_ to help, grabbing his arm and guiding him over to the couch.

"I just make everything worse when I am around you!" She snapped but as she turned to flee a second time Jack caught her arm.

"Will you just wait?" He groaned.

"Let go!"

"Will you wait just a minute!?" He pulled her down on the couch next to him. Together they sat there, breathing hard, Miko's eyes brimming up, and Jack's as well but only from the hissing pain in his knee. She twisted her arm out of his hand, but she stayed put.

"I'm sorry." Jack sighed, pushing himself up a little better. Miko wiped her cheeks with her fingers.

"No...no I startled you. I'm sorry. I should have let you sleep."

"It's alright. I've slept enough." Jack moved his leg to ease the pain. For her sake he said nothing more about it and willed himself not to look so miserable.

Not that he cut much a picture. He had slept in his clothes again and his eyes felt puffy with sleep, his hair a mess and the traces of stubble on his face. She on the other hand looked as fresh as a daisy and smelled even better, her outfit and her spirit making her feel light and vibrant.

Not that she was very vibrant _now_. He shouldn't have yelled at her.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you. Ok? I was dreaming." He said, looking right into her eyes so she could feel his sincerity.

"A nightmare?" she asked.

"Yeah." He nodded finally and looked away from her. She thawed some, shifting to sit a little better herself on the edges of the cushions and brushing a few hairs out of her face. She wore dark leggings under her customary denim shorts, knee high tan boots and a matching t-shirt with a dark tank top over that. Gone were the days of toys at her belt and pop-culture icons on her chest.

These days she sported an Autobot symbol and a tool belt. When she was working. And she had been wearing her hair a little more discretely for a year. The huge pompoms were much smaller and a bit further back on her head, but still she was Miko and the dark silky hair falling over one eye was shot through with pink, the rest was even longer down her back and around her ears. It worked for someone like her and she was quite the talk of the halls at school with her flawless face and exotic eyes.

She didn't care.

"I'm...I'm sorry too." she went on. "It's just that you've been sleeping so long and I was spending the night also, and Fowler and the agents left some pizza and..." She realized she was two words away from babbling and she clasped her hands between her knees and cleared her throat, willing herself not to be embarrassed this close to him.

"Did you hurt your arm?"

"No. Not, it's ok." He managed a little smile. At least the arm was better. Lately they had put just a brace on it instead so Jack could sleep better.

He looked over at the box and it's unappetizing little stacks of slices.

"Pizza huh? Is that it?" he nodded. He felt pretty bad about yelling at Miko, especially when she had just been wanting to bring him some pie. She leaned forward over the coffee table to have a look herself and she made a face.

"Well, no, not those. But there's more than half left in the box. " She got up and stepped around the table, tipping the bad slices off and trying to straighten the box out as she brought it up. She set it down on the coffee table and gathered up the paper napkins next as Jack pulled it over popped it open, surveying the damage.

Fortunately it wasn't so warm that it had glued itself to the box top, but it was warm enough that he found his mouth watering. She must have kept it warm and it wasn't more than an hour old. He straightened out what was left and then dug in with gusto, not even needing to pretend for Miko's sake, though he could see her obvious relief as she sat down on the coffee table across from the box.

Jack studied her a little, his head turned and biting big chunks off the slice he held.

"How's the arm been doing, anyway?" She asked, absurdly pleased to see the pizza was a hit. Jack was actually pretty hungry. He grinned a little, his cheeks already stuffed as he tried to answer and this set them both to giggling for a second. This dispelled much of her earlier horror and Miko's eyes were shining as she got up and went over to the mini-cooler, popping it open and fishing them both out a soda.

After Jack worked his food down and drank half the can before he finally answered her as he wiped his mouth with a napkin.

"A lot better. This is just a splint." He held up the light contoured steel and nylon strap brace. "An Autobot brace is better than any cast. So I'm feeling pretty good." He lied. It was his knee more than anything but he wasn't about to say so.

"And if I want I can clip it back into the larger frame." Strangely he felt himself caught up in Miko's bright return smile. Her tears were long gone and now she was eating a piece heartily herself. This touched something in Jack long dormant as he sat there.

The simple comfort of food and company with his own kind. His own age. And the presence of a pretty girl. Not for the first time he noticed just how attractive Miko actually was. They should have been sitting together with friends in a pizza joint, near some video games and the standard crane-game with it's cheap little stuffed animals, instead of in this old missile silo.

He should be trying to win her a stuffed kitten as she stood there wearing his jacket. Not sitting on an old couch in the middle of an intergalactic war.

She went on as easily as she ever did, at ease now and chattering back happily, telling him about the evening he had slept through. She steered away from any bad news and he couldn't help but feel a little better. Miko was magnetic and charismatic and it was almost surreal to have her sitting in front of him after the gloomy weeks he had spent around base.

He was half-way through his second piece, listening to her talk and noting her blush was slow to fade. And that it was a bit more chilly in here than what he had been dreaming about.

"Wanna sit next to me?" He indicated the couch when she finished and Miko covered her surprise by taking an extra large bite of her first slice.

"Sure." she said, her cheek bulging.

She got up, still chewing, and came back around the table. And it wasn't lost on either of them that she sat down directly next to Jack as he made room, on his right, her thigh up against his.

With as much practicality as he could muster though, Jack took his blanket and draped it around the both of them and despite it's warmth, Miko felt more chills than she let on. And they had nothing to do with being cold. She felt a little subdued after all her initial chatter. Subdued and excited.

But then, the base _was _a little cold for her at this time of night and she snuggled in a little, both of them just quietly eating for the moment.

Her glow faded a touch though, when that's _all_ Jack did. Sat there and ate, mentioning this or that. He didn't put his arm around her or even brush her knee. He just handed her her soda and it began to feel like he was the Jack Darby of old, doing what needed to be done when he saw a need. Was she mistaken? Didn't he want her to sit by him for some other reason? Well, she was close to him now for the first time in a long time and they were alone.

She wasn't going _anywhere_.

She rested her head on his shoulder, nibbling her crust, and as they sat there she realized Jack was staring off a to his right a little, past her head and down the steps, over at the glowing rejuvenation chamber.

Miko held still, thoughtful and a little docile, feeling a strange distance between her and Jack. Not over-large, but profound. She dabbed at the corner of her mouth with her own napkin and set the crust down, taking up her soda with her heart beating a little faster in her ribs. As Jack raised his third piece, she turned to him.

"Can I have a bite of that one?"

He hesitated.

An 'older brother' Jack Darby would have just reached down and handed her a second slice. This Jack Darby turned and held it out to her and she closed her hand around the back of his and took her time taking a bite. He watched her, a mix of bemusement and that awkward shyness on his face. Just like old times. And when he went to lower his hand she held on to it, forcing him to take the pizza with his free hand. Miko quickly slipped her hand around into his and laced her smaller fingers through his own, noting the roughness and feeling her nipples tingle.

_You're at least going to hold my hand, Jack._

She watched him bite the pizza right where she had, and this made her smile. She leaned her head back against his shoulder, closing her eyes happily as she felt him continue to eat. But again, she soon felt him looking off into the distance and she opened her eyes with a small sigh that he didn't notice. She felt a little resigned that they weren't going to be able to avoid the issue forever, even though she was thinking more about a _kiss_ than Arcee.

"Arcee is going to be fine." She said, glancing over at the glowing blue tube herself. And for Miko, she believed it. With more feeling than fact, she chalked up most Autobot injuries as dismissible. Feeling somehow her will power alone could make light of them and so have them clear up all the quicker. It was something she couldn't shake from when she was a girl and she saw no reason to start now. Arcee needed her kind of magic. Jack needed something more.

"Yeah. I hope so." He sighed and her heart sank as he suddenly broke up their little warm bubble of closeness. He let go of her hand and pushed the pizza box away as he finished off his pop. Then he took the blanket and draped it all around her slight shoulders and smacked his hands clear. She thought for sure he was going to stand up and leave her, but instead he took his pillow and tossed it to the other end of the sofa. Scooting back, he swung his legs up the other way, laying down behind her. She turned to her right to face him as he got comfortable. He stuck an arm behind his head.

"I keep thinking about what I could have done differently." he said after a moment.

Miko, painfully aware her butt was pressing against his hip, played with the tab on her pop can, wondering what she could say. She looked down at him.

"You did all you could." She tried to add helpfully.

A shadow passed over his face.

"No one really understands why I did what I had to." he sighed.

Miko didn't want this. For a brief, wonderful moment she and Jack were really alone. Just the two of them. Sitting right here. She had him somewhere special and wanted it to last as long as possible. So gathering her courage, she turned back around to her left, setting her pop down and raising up her own legs, sliding them down next to his and turning to lift his free arm up around her. He said nothing as she laid down next to him this way.

He was obviously startled but she avoided his eyes, making him hug her and snuggling up on his chest under his arm.

"What are you doing?" He said finally.

"Just shut up, ok? You look like you need a hug." There was no denying her as with her free arm she tossed the blanket over them both as best she could before settling down.

Jack did hug her, his arm did relax and his hand rested warmly on her shoulder as together they lay there.

She watched as he raised his hand up for a moment. From the way he moved under her, he must have been tugging at his pillow or something but then, to her relief, he settled back down and put his hand back on her shoulder.

She smiled and snuggled in. Tucked up against him like this felt wonderful. She just lay there, feeling him breathe.

Jack had gone back to staring up at the ceiling and Miko at the couch cushions. Sometimes she looked down at his socks.

Both of them were thinking of other things though, feeling the quietness of the room.

As they listened, they heard what had to be Ratchet, his slow steady tread echoing from some far off area.

Thankfully his footsteps faded away.

"What if someone catches us like this?" Jack asked quietly, staring down at the top of her head.

"Catches us like what? We're not doing anything." she answered a little petulantly.

Miko felt Jack's heart speed up. She could hear it beating.

"Do you want to?" He asked, after a long moment.

It seemed like the whole world was on hold and Miko's eyes widened a little, but then she shut them in her excitement, only to swallow and open them again.

"What if I do?" She heard herself answer, opening her hand and brushing the back of her fingers against his stomach.

He didn't answer and she felt his tummy rumble. Pizza or sudden nerves it didn't matter. With butterflies of her own, she raised her right hand back up to his on her shoulder and Jack took hold of it.

For a moment they just held hands like that, their fingers dancing. This was a first for them, this hand holding, and it was potent indeed in the quiet of the night.

As time went on, neither of them could say exactly when she raised her arm and he slipped his hand down around her to her right breast.

They were both nervous. Miko could feel how tense he was. Her own heart fluttered in her chest as she looked down at his hand, lying over her breast, unmoving. She caressed it with her own soft fingers, wanting to say more but afraid to shatter the moment. But then his hand cupped her naturally and he started to caress her back. She raised her smaller hand up and closed her fingers around his wrist, drinking in the sight of Jack fondling her.

She watched as he kneaded her breast more strongly know, her nipple quickly stiffening against his touch. When his thumb brushed over it where it pushed up through the fabric of her t-shirt, Miko gave the smallest moan and brought one leg up over his thigh without thinking, turning her cheek to his stomach, her mouth open slightly and nuzzling against him.

Then he ruined everything.

"I can't do this, Miko."

Her heart sank again, her eyes coming open.

Then she was shifting around suddenly, surprising them both, turning to him and pushing herself up higher on his chest. Jack went to say something else but then Miko pressed her slight lips right over his mouth, her hands down on his chest as if she held him place for a first kiss she wouldn't be denied.

He kissed her back at least, dropping his other arm and resting both hands on her lower back. In fact, he kissed her back a lot longer than she expected and she felt a boys tongue touch hers for the first time. Without realizing she had done so, Miko had moved up on top of him and pressed her slender knees down on each side of his waist.

But she already knew that's all Jack had in him. A kiss. She could hear it in his voice, even though she wasn't mistaken about what was pressing into her from under his jeans. Still, she held on, unable to help herself.

He broke the kiss finally, the two of them gasping a little. Miko smiled, her eyes bright and looking down at his lips, she licked her own slightly and leaned in again, but that's when he stopped her.

"I_ can't_ do this." he said again and she was forced look into his tortured eyes and know she was defeated. Still, more than a little defiantly, she reached back and pushed his hand down onto her butt.

"Do I have to make you touch me?" she said, a catch in her voice. She kissed him again before he could answer.

And as they lay there, _both _of Jack's hands found her bottom, and what was _more,_ his hands slipped up under the legs of her shorts and he was squeezing her ass through her leggings.

Miko Nakadai felt her body wake up even more. Having her breast and butt squeezed while kissing was one thing, but suddenly, exhilarating, she wanted more. She wanted to be touched by his naked hand.

They broke away a second time and Miko pushed her breasts down against his chest, letting him feel her hard nipples and she nuzzled her lips against his ear, wanting him to do the same to her. Wanting him to do more.

"Yes, Jack. _Please_." She sighed but then, just as before, it was over. He stopped again. His hands came out of her shorts and then he was holding her by the shoulders, pressing her back gently.

"I can't. Not like this. Not here. And not with Arcee over...there." He struggled with it, tortured and torn. Miko knew that a minute ago but she couldn't help but be a little selfish. Now she tried to control her own impulses.

_I want to take off my shorts. I want him to reach under me and put his hand down my tights. I don't want to stop and I don't want him to be so alone. I want to be with him._

She was frightened by how that felt, but she was also willing. Instead, she clasped her hands on Jack's chest and rested her chin there, staring into his face and feeling her own wetness between her legs.

"I just can't." He said again, looking down at her.

"You can't with me?" She asked.

"I...I didn't say that."

"So I 'm not mistaken what I feel pressing into me down there?"

"Miko, stop this. Please."

She couldn't hurt him anymore, so she sighed and dropped her cheek back down on his chest, trying to get her arms around him as best she could. Before she had to ask, Jack _did _slip his arms back around her and hug her to him.

And there they lay.

From here Miko could see Arcee's rejuvenation chamber and she was thoughtful and vulnerable, feeling Jack's chest rise and fall beneath her, his strength fading away between them. She didn't really understand, but then she thought she did, all at the same time. She sighed a little in her confusion.

"Are you ever going to want to touch me, Jack?" She asked in a small voice. She felt him shift his head so he could look down at her again.

"Why would the prettiest girl in Jasper choose me?" His voice was light and loving and she loved and hated him for it.

"Why shouldn't she?" She answered. He hugged her a little closer.

"Well?" She insisted.

"I...don't know." he answered sadly.

"Say my name." She said suddenly.

"What?"

"Say my name."

"Why?" he looked back at her shimmering black hair, the scent of her shampoo making his heart ache.

"Because I want to hear how you say my name just now." He took only a moment, as if he was gathering his thoughts.

"Miko." He said.

She didn't answer him. They just stayed that way, holding on, keeping each other warm and keeping each other close. After a time they both fell asleep again. Jack before Miko. And she raised her head up to look at him for a moment.

He looked young. At peace.

Then she turned and settled down in his arms to let herself drift off...a small smile on her lips.


	22. Secrets

**Secrets**

Rafael pushed his glasses back up and worked his lips for a moment, his face taking on that perturbed little look. It was without bitterness, being just a mix of several emotions at once and not least of all how he didn't wish to disappoint his friends.

"Bridging without anyone knowing about it? I don't know Jack."

The three core members were in Jack's room, which was cluttered and a little musty from disuse. Miko, unquestioningly going along with whatever Jack had in mind, left him and Rafael to it. She was going about the room for the moment and actually tidying up a little for Jack, who had scoured the room clean of any traces of his relationship with Arcee.

In fact, she wasn't even really listening to them. Miko didn't have the makings of a homemaker inside her, so for her, 'tidying up' was more about just making bigger piles of his clothes and putting all the pillows in one place. She did better by his tools and gear though, after dumping all the old food packets and empty bottles in a bin.

"I know I've said it a lot in the past, Raf...but come on, Raf." Jack said from his place on a stool. Rafael was sitting on the edge of Jack's bed with his ever present laptop. A card table and three stools set up nearby for their 'secret' meeting.

"It all feels...dishonest." Raf gave Jack a worried look.

Poor innocent Rafael. He'd probably stay innocent his whole life. Even when he had his own house full of kids and was making more money per day than Jack did all week. Jack could see it now. His huge family running pell-mell around him, making his head spin, pushing out one thought with another idea and then promptly forgetting that one too.

And always his own little measure of inner 'iron' to do what was right, even as he stumbled over how to say 'no'.

Jack pursed his lips and happened to look over at Miko just as she dropped the force-field from the one window here in his apartment at Autobot base. This high up? You didn't get a breeze, you got a regular gale and the resulting whoosh startled her.

Jack and Rafael winced as the wind burst into the room with a howl, snatching up what it could and blowing it all around.

Miko immediately keyed the force-field again and didn't bother to turn around as her silky black hair settled back down around her face.

"Sorry." she said, without turning. Jack grinned a tiny bit and turned back to Rafael.

"I know it looks bad Raf, but there are a few things I need to tell you. Both of you." He looked over at Miko again and she came walking across his huge mattress, stopping to ruffle Rafael's hair and then slipping up onto her own stool. Both of them waited for Jack to speak.

**ooo**

Jack went over what he was going to say, knowing he could probably persuade them, but the duplicity stung even so. That was why he envied Rafael his purity and innocence. But he couldn't think of any other way.

"It's like this. We've all been at this for better than four years. And frankly, even if another ten go by, I don't see us getting any more involved in things than we are now."

He let that sink in for a moment before continuing.

"We can't blame the Autobot's. They can't help but want to keep us safe and they've been at this so long, it's almost second nature to them not to risk anyone else in their war with the Decepticons."

"What do you mean? There are more and more soldiers fighting with the Autobot's all the time." Rafael replied, straightening his glasses.

"Soldiers. Not us."

"But we're the core team." Miko said, her hands gripped between her knees as she idly spun back and forth on her stool.

"We're a core team of civilians. And the military presence is growing. Just how much do you think they will keep involving us?" Jack looked directly at her.

"You're talking of you and Miko." Raf noted quietly.

Jack looked down at him.

"Yes. I am. Because you're proving to be invaluable in other ways, Raf. But Miko and I are part of operations. Or at least we were."

"What do you mean _were_? You think they're going to bench us?" Miko frowned.

Jack looked over at her again.

"I think they already are...or at least it's going to come to that."

"How so?" She looked a little miffed.

"Honey, I feel Bulkhead is _never_ going to take you into the field to fight alongside him. Even if you complete that battlesuit of yours. And before you get mad at me, think on it. More than any of us, you've been itching for a chance to get stuck in. But I think you've been hoping for it for so long, you don't dare tell yourself it's probably never going to happen."

Four years ago Miko would have flared up like a sparkler and argued to the contrary until she was blue in the face. But she was nearly eighteen and she had always been smarter than she let on. Plus, the last two weeks with Jack had changed her a little. She was more understanding and caring and they had spent more time together than ever before. So while what he said to her really burned her ass, she felt a wave of affection for him in that at least he was speaking to her honestly and not like some irrelevant little girl running around the base. So she waited and bit back her temper.

"Go on. What about you?" She said lightly. He sensed her fire and smiled a little at her, liking her.

"Being benched? Me especially, sweetheart. Because of everything that's happened. Arcee's been out of commission going on six weeks now. Frankly, while I understand their concern, I've been benched as long as she's on the disabled list. And before that, all we did was scout, really. The signs are there if you read them that we're being passed off for our own good."

"But maybe we're reading into it to much. Maybe they think you just need some time." Rafael ventured. Jack leaned back on his stool and rubbed his hands down his lap.

"Look...I'm older than you both. You've been there to see what has gone down right along with me there last four years. Don't you see I've actually done _less_ fighting than before? Less missions _before_ Arcee got hurt? You gotta know the Autobot's needed us more in the beginning than they do now."

"Jack, we can't blame the Autobot's for that." Rafael worked his hands together a little, his laptop still perched on his knees from where he sat on the edge of the bed.

"No...we can't. I said as much. And as for needing time, well, yeah, sure. But even you two know I should be involved in looking for Airachnid _somehow_...and I'm not."

"None of our partners has even been this...badly injured before." Rafael dared add and Miko glanced down at him quickly.

"Six weeks Raf. It's been six weeks. I'm not made out of sugar." Miko felt the ache in Jack's voice and she wanted to hug him. But she stayed where she was and kept on listening.

"How long can I keep sleeping on the couch? How long do they expect me to? I know when I'm being sheltered." Jack looked grim.

He looked right at Miko as she sat there mulling over what he was getting at.

"Are you willing to be sheltered?" he challenged her mildly.

"No."

"Neither am I. And I've...taken my own steps about it."

"Like what?" Miko and Rafael asked together. He _really_ had their attention now, that was for certain.

"I've done a little hunting on my own."

"Oh wow!" Miko sat up straighter, her eyes shining.

"For Airachnid?" Rafael asked, his surprise evident.

"Before that. But I'll get to that. And there's even _more_ proof for you, if you need it. That Chameleon armor? It was all well and good for me to 'guinea pig' for it, but the moment it was ready, Ratchet boxed it up and started working towards manufacturing it for the field agents. That's _my_ 'battlesuit' you know? Miko and I have different styles, but when it was finally ready it was 'hands off Jack, thanks for your help'. All temporarily, suuure. But _come_ _on_, you guys. How many times have we've been told to wait? Wait for what? The Autobot's to hurry up and save the day and then tell us we're invaluable after everything's been all wrapped up nice and neat?"

"Jack, don't you think you sound a little bitter?" Rafael asked. Only he would have dared make such a statement. Only his gentle nature would have allowed for it. Miko held still, no longer spinning her stool.

"Rafael..." she began quietly.

"Raf, I know all that." Jack cut in. "I can see the psychology and you're right. But try and see past Arcee's injury to how this was already happening _before_ hand." He turned to Miko.

"Right?"

"Yeah...yeah, I guess so." She bit one nail, thinking about what he had said and about her _own_ nearly ready battlesuit. The implications worried her.

"Again, we're not blaming the Autobot's, guys. We love em' for it. But if I'm bitter, it's more towards Fowler and the agents. Devotion and concern is blinding the Autobot's and Fowler can get them to go along with most of his ideas as a result. And that_ includes_ cutting us out of the loop."

"Sure, but...Fowler worries about us too." Rafael was ever chasing the shadows out of his thoughts. Jack smiled at him like an older brother would.

"I'm not _mad _at anybody Raf, I'm just not going to sit still. Because now, more so than ever, they're _really_ going to make sure they don't put me at risk. But as far as Airachnid goes, I'm _not_ going to sit still."

Rafael looked down, picking at the edge of his laptop case with one finger.

"That's why I've come to you guys. We _are _the core team. I think we should act like it."

"It still feels dishonest." Rafael murmured.

"What hunting have you done then?" Miko leaned forward. Jack braced himself.

"I've appropriated my own arsenal from the government agents and stashed it here and there. Those follow up missions they send me on? Checking old energon mines?" Jack scoffed.

"I've managed it so that I can go out and track and ambush Vehicon patrols instead."

Rafael looked up, his eyes as wide as Miko's, who was staring at Jack, her eyebrows soaring up. He just tilted his head at them with a smirk, looking between the two of them for the moment.

It was true...and they both could tell it.

"Three times." he added.

The allure wore off quicker for Rafael than it did for Miko.

"Oh boy." He sighed, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose with his fingers and rub them there.

Miko's eyes were shinning so much Jack was worried Raf might notice something. She looked like she wanted to leap on him and kiss him. He tipped his head towards Rafael and she caught on, sitting back quickly and wiping her lips with her fingers. Rafael looked up again and he missed this exchange, chalking up her excitement to just Miko being Miko.

"Jack, I don't know. That's pretty major."

"There's more. Arcee and I ran into Airachnid on one of our scouts. She nearly had me, but Arcee fought of her off. She had a lair out in the woods...and I know where it is."

"Oh wow." Miko gasped.

"Have you told Optimus!?" Raf asked immediately.

"No. Arcee and I handled it."

"Not even now? After Airachnid's last attack?" Rafael stood up and set his laptop on the card table, as rattled as Jack had ever seen him.

"No." Jack watched them both carefully. Even Miko was sobered, waiting for him to go on.

"Boy, now I _really _think this is bad idea, Jack" Raf slipped past the table and started to pace a little. "You know where her lair is and you didn't tell anyone. All this time?"

"I'm not a kid anymore, Raf. Neither are you." Jack felt Rafael give that 'web of secrets' he had built up around himself a good solid kick. He had to reel him in before it boiled over.

But Raf forged ahead. "That's not enough to go on! What reason could you possibly have to keep that from Optimus?"

Rafael was wringing his hands again. He looked like he wanted to shout, a testimony to just how rattled he was.

It was time for a few more lies. Necessary lies. And Jack felt the hole in his soul grow a little deeper.

"Because Arcee's vendetta with Airachnid lies outside team Prime. Because that time she was going to _kill _her and...and I stopped her."

"You stopped her?" Miko was as surprised as Rafael, who stopped pacing.

"You both know how closely we've bounded with our Autobot's. They're more than allies. More than friends. We're probably the only three people on Earth that can understand such a partnership. Without betraying her confidence, Arcee's feelings about Airachnid are...very deep. And painful. They go beyond personal. As her partner, I stood by her through _all_ those times Airachnid made an appearance and it was _because _of our partnership I was there to stop her from murdering her the last time. I care that much. After that, it was something we kept to ourselves since Arcee drove her off and Airachnid vanished again for months. I guess should have said I knew where her lair _used_ to be because now it's nothing more than a long shot. But as I said, I care enough about Arcee that I didn't want her to have blood on her hands. Then Airachnid pulls this latest stunt. So you can imagine how having things end up like this has made me feel."

That was sobering enough that Rafael seemed to come to terms with their covert little meeting and he sat back down quietly on the bed. He was remembering once how terrible _he_ had felt when Bumblebee had lost his ability to transform. And Miko was thinking about the time Bulkhead's personality had slowly faded away in front of her very eyes, under the influence of an ancient data cylinder.

They both looked at Jack after a moment, who had shoved his hands into his pockets and was staring at the toe of his boot as he ground it against the floor distractedly. He was thinking about his _mother_, and how she had her own bound with a Transformer that he had to keep under wraps for her sake. And Optimus too. Again he felt like Atlas, holding up a giant snowball of lies and half-truths that could turn to mush and make a mess at any moment. But before that happened, he was going to kill Airachnid.

As if reading his mind, Rafael spoke quietly.

"And this time _you_ intend to kill her?"

Jack glanced up at him and then back down. A long moment passed between all three of them. Jack finally looked back up.

"If I have to." He answered simply.

"Jack, I still think we should involve the Autobot's. We're just...three people. We can't take on Transformers."

"I already have."

"And I'm going to!" Miko blurted out, turning to Rafael, her open defiance of any other possibility cementing the fact she was throwing in her lot with Jack fully.

"You guys...this is all..." Raf went on.

"This isn't some after school special anymore, Raf. I've taken them out before. I'm not going to sit on my hands for this one. They all go down if you hit em' in the right spot." Jack could feel Rafael buckling under his will and desire.

"And besides, Airachnid may be dead already. We just need you to help us take a quick peek!" Miko added, unable to hold her enthusiasm in any longer.

"I dunno..." Raf hesitated.

"Think of it as another scout." Miko looked over at Jack, but Jack felt he had lied to Rafael enough for one day.

"Rafael...help me make this right." He asked. That was true enough at least, even though his means to get Rafael to cooperate were tainted.

That did it though. For now Rafael shelved his concern, they could see him do so, as he took a deep breath and pushed his glasses back up, his mind already at work.

"Well...I...I have been curious to try a few things I always had in mind about the Land-bridge. I guess...I guess what Ratchet doesn't know won't hurt him. We'll just...borrow things for a while so you can go on your scout."

He was convincing himself. For the moment.

"That's the spirit! Hooyah!" Miko hopped off her stool and bundled him up in a half-hug, half-tackle. She was merciless. Her perfume and the fact she was pressing both her breasts up against the side of Rafael's head did more to scatter his concerns than any of Jack's tactics.

But it wasn't lost on Jack what Rafael had said to him when he finally agreed to help. He knew a subtle message when he heard it, but Rafael was going to be disappointed. Let him think they were sniffing out Airachnid so that they could call in the Autobots. Let him tell himself that very thing.

Jack knew better.

There would be no scout. If Jack found Airachnid, he was going to kill her. It was that simple. It didn't matter what it took. And lying to Rafael to get him to play ball was the least of his worries right now. Jack had never felt more serious in his whole life.

**ooo**

Later, when they had gone over the details and Rafael had to make his way home, Miko lingered at Jack's bedroom door, seeing him off. Jack still sat on his stool, lost in thought, but when she closed the door and turned back into the room, he noticed her heading right for him.

He was startled.

"Uh oh. I know that walk." He managed to blurt out just before Miko grabbed him. It was a good thing they were close to his massive mattress because she practically pushed him back onto it, scattering the stool and shoving him down. He struggled to get a good look at her but she wasn't going to be denied and not until he was pinned down flat with her on top of him, did she lock eyes with him.

Those eyes of hers were shinning, relishing the moment, looking at him in a way that sent chills up and down his body. What was more, he was painfully aware of her slender thighs gripping his waist and how she had pushed him right up against her between her legs. Her hands had his shoulders, holding him more strongly than he had thought possible.

"Miko?" He managed to get out before, without a sound, she mashed her lips against his.

Miko's breath was warm and sweet on his cheek and he doubted it could ever be entirely unpleasant to end up kissing her. So he kissed her back, doing so before he even really thought about it. In fact, they kissed a good long time, Jack's arms coming up around her. But that's when he was in for a surprise.

Miko sat up and shrugged out of his embrace, pushing his arms aside and back down with her hands.

"What...what's..." He stammered.

"That was for being pretty fierce." She smiled, bringing up an old private joke between the two of them. Back in the days she had teased him as a sassy fifteen year old with a crush on a high school 'senior'. Before he could reply, her eyes darkened a little and strangely, her soaring libido melted away.

"But I'm going to tell you something, Jack. While you can pass off Rafael from what you're _really _up to, you're not going to do that with me."

Jack wiped his lips with his fingers and stared up at her.

"I'm not. I said I would kill her if I had to." He answered a little defiantly.

"Oh no you don't, Captain Double-meaning." she admonished him.

"What!?"

"You said if you_ have_ to. But you can't hide the fact you _intend_ to."

So she had noticed.

"So what? You of all people should understand." he countered.

"Yes. But it's not just that, this is more about how glazed over how you and Arcee never told Optimus about running into her. I'm surprised Rafael let that go. I think we intimidate him and he doesn't want to disappoint us. But it will fester, Jack. And he's not going to cooperate forever."

"I know that. So what are you getting at?"

"I want to know why. The real reason. Because that_ is _pretty major how neither you or Arcee never said anything to Optimus."

Jack held still, feeling his body relax under Miko's waist. She felt it to, and ignored it completely, surprising him with her intensity. Before he could answer, she went on.

"What's the real reason you didn't go for it the other night on the couch with me?"

So _that_ was it. She was on a totally different scent. Jack sighed and looked up at the ceiling.

"Well?" she prompted.

"What are you asking me, Miko?" he said to the sky.

"I think the only reason you and Arcee kept things quiet, is because there was something to keep _private_."

"Don't be silly."

"Don't toy with me, Jack." He looked back at her and could see she meant it. It seemed somehow, in her own way, Miko had ferreted out that there may be more to his relationship with Arcee. _More than meets the eye_. Well it stood to reason she might. She was older now, and not so hyper, but she was still Miko and she hadn't missed a trick these last few months. And here he thought he had been so clever. There was no denying her now. Question was, how would that affect things? How much did she know?

"What if there is? What if it _is _a matter of privacy? Is that the confirmation you seek?"

Miko sat up straighter and just stayed there, straddling him and looking down at him, resting her hands lightly on his stomach. It was his turn to ask.

"Why are you pushing this now?"

At that, he was surprised to see a tiny flicker of pain cross her face.

She leaned down and kissed him again, quickly, but then she was pushing off of him and hopping back up to her feet. He sat up slowly as she backed off, distancing herself a little for what she had to say.

She stood there painfully sexy and proud.

"If it's what I think it is, that's fine. I'm more understanding than Raf and I can get it. But it looks like it's caused you a lot of trouble. Arcee especially." She dared say.

"And that leaves you...where particularly?" He felt tired.

Miko frowned ever so slightly.

"You think you've been clever, but sometimes you need things spelled out for you, Jack Darby. I'm with you on this, all the way. For your sake and Arcee's. But now that I know why you didn't go for it the other night with me, I'll say this much. My goals are not your goals."

And with that she spun on her heel and marched away, right across his apartment floor and out the door without pause. In fact, she even slammed the door behind her.

Jack sat on the edge of his bed, thinking. Processing how Miko had, in her own way, professed her feelings for him just now and how she was willing to ignore everything else. What was more, she was willing to go into this with him all the way and face whatever dangers there would be. And she had made it clear why. Even after he dropped some major bombs in here tonight, she never wavered.

She was aiming higher than revenge...she had her sights set on old Jack Darby.

He stayed sitting there.

And he thought about that for a long time.


	23. Hunter becomes hunted

**Hunter becomes hunted.**

"Are you sure about this?" Miko bit her lip as she watched Jack making some final adjustments.

"Hey, I thought you were on my side." He smiled at her as he flexed the exo-frame over his right arm. He had donned his chameleon armor first, then an equipment harness, and now his brace. It had done wonders for his broken arm these last six weeks, only now he had hooked back up the other servos and it was super-charged once more. He could punch his way through a steel door and he was glad to have it.

Miko stepped closer and adjusted a hinge on the exo-frame with a long allen wrench.

"That was before you told me I couldn't go with." Her voice was more worried than angry, but she kept at her task. Jack didn't answer, working the elbow joint and noting it was smoother now.

Earlier in the day, at a sandwich shop in town, they had had a pretty heated exchange about Miko coming with Jack. It had hurt her more than she let on, because she was finding it hard to adjust to her role in the grand scheme of things. She knew full well she didn't have a leg to stand on when it came to Jack Darby.

She wasn't family and she wasn't girlfriend. Plain and simple. So she had no say in the matter what-so-ever. She was just a 'friend'. And for someone like Miko, it was a tough adjustment to find that she had no real pull with someone.

What was worse, in these last few weeks she had made it pretty clear how she felt about Jack. To them both. And that kept her inexplicably tied to him. The bitter irony was she still had to field all the worry and stress that goes along with such feelings, while not being allowed any comfort or consideration.

Just how do you demand something of someone when it's like that?

Still, she gave it her best shot, calling on what conscience she could and pointing out what facts there were that might make him rethink things. Jack was to kind hearted to pretty much tell her 'deal with it' and when she realized her _own_ insistence was making him just that more protective of her, she was infuriated and attracted to him at the same time.

Settling for that much, like a pseudo-girlfriend, she did the last thing she knew how to make him feel better. That evening, when Rafael was busy with his preparations, Miko kissed Jack again in his room, hoping he would come around.

He didn't. When she tried to lift his arms up around her, he pulled away, and they got tangled up ridiculously until he finally had to shrug her off with a frown.

His eyes had been filled with such turmoil, her heart sank. She was horrified for trying to force herself on him. On_ this_ night of all nights. She was so disgusted with herself, she would have just fled for home if he hadn't needed her help. Getting upset and crying like a girl was the last thing he needed.

The result was she had been quiet since then. A little _to_ quiet. And now as he stood up off his stool, he nudged her with his hip. Just enough to let her know everything was okay between them. But Miko wouldn't relent, stinging with her own pain and frustration, even though they were of her own making.

As Jack stepped past her, she didn't turn around with him. She just stayed standing by the table, tapping the allen wrench against the edge softly. She felt him turn around to stare at her.

"There's not a single thing I can do." She said quietly, looking down, picking at the pitted wood of the work table aimlessly. Her statement had many meanings.

Jack look at Miko and felt his guts twist up. All day he had been painfully aware of her. She had worn a light beige vest and matching khaki shorts over a black tank top and leggings, with her customary knee-high leather boots. What was more, she had let her hair down, all of it, and it looked like a gleaming gossamer curtain framing her pretty face, shot through with a dash of bright pink. For just a moment today, he had been selfishly thrilled that people in town might mistake him and Miko for an item.

Some kids from high school saw them and he knew the rumors would start up again like they had before, since he and Miko had inexplicably spent a lot of time together these last four years. The school hallway's zeroed in on that kind of thing mercilessly.

But Jack had graduated long since and he could only imagine how such whispers would leave Miko feeling. Now, unable to do anything about_ any_ of it, all he felt was foolish.

"If I could fix everything, I would." He said quietly, turning to stare at the wall but looking off into the distance.

Miko shook her head a little.

"Would you do away with how I feel? Fix that too?" she asked mildly.

Jack grimaced and ran a hand down his face. Girl's had a way of trapping you for saying something that you never meant to say. Making it sound like you said something _bad_. And there was no answer. He didn't want to fight, no matter how much she misconstrued what he said.

"Do you remember the train?" he asked instead.

Miko smiled a little, still without turning around. "You're pretty fierce." she said, touching again on an old private joke between the two of them.

"Even though Prime showed up and saved us..." Jack went on. "and everything was all wild and crazy with Fowler and Mech...you know what I kept thinking about? All the rest of the day?"

He set his gear down but Miko still didn't turn.

"You looked so cute when the wind was blowing into the car and we thought we were going to crash. Looking up at me like you did. I thought it was just the stress of the moment, but for an instant it was something...special."

Miko frowned, quickly hardening her heart and she turned around with a sharp glare.

"That isn't helping!"

Jack looked flustered, rubbing the back of his neck in that way he had.

"I'm not trying to make you feel _worse_." he said. "I just wanted to say it before I...before..."

"Before you bridge into Airachnid's lair." she finished for him.

"Yeah...I guess so."

"Are you scared?" she asked quietly, turning to face him more fully.

"No...and that's what scares me." He stood there looking tortured and grim and Miko came up to him quickly and bundled him up into a hug. That was all she did, and he relaxed when he felt the depth of her gesture. For a while they stood there, until she could tell it was time to get going.

"I said I'm not going to quit on you, mister." she said quietly against his chest, summoning up some spunk so the moment wouldn't be so grim. She even tickled him a little, and then _she_ broke the embrace.

"So let's do this." Her eyes were flashing and Jack grinned despite himself. He took a deep breath and let it out.

"Ok." was all he said.

**ooo**

Just as they stepped back out into the main room of Jack's apartment, Rafael's call beeped in on Jack's harness. He was off in his own room, patched into the sub-relays of the Autobot's mainframe and bridge controls.

"How's it looking?" Jack asked, speaking into the headset he set into place. Miko fussed with the strap, straightening it so it wouldn't pull his hair. They were all business now and she was giving him the once over.

"Looks like we're good to go." Rafael's voice crackled.

"And how are _we_ doing, Raf?"

There was no hesitation. "I'm with ya, Jack. But just be careful. If I have to pull you out fast for any reason...well, we should still be ok. I think Ratchet's taking some down time for the next couple of hours."

"We'll burn that bridge when we come to it." Jack looked at Miko and she rolled her eyes and gave him a little slap on the arm.

"If that was meant as a joke, it wasn't very funny." Rafael replied over the link. But Jack knew all three of them were riding the high and sharing a little brevity in the moment.

One last fast check by Miko and then she stepped back. Jack nodded to her.

"We're set." she said to Rafael over her own link.

Right there on the far wall of his apartment, a landbridge blossomed open, swirling the air around the room in warm waves. The ozone tickled the nose this close and confined. At some point, Miko had slipped on her own pair of goggles and she pulled them down in time with Jack slipping on his own.

"On my mark!" Rafael's voice called out. Jack raised his stop watch up to Miko, who held up her own next to his. She reached over to hold her thumbs over both timers, her fine hair swirling in the air and tickling his face. They waited, Miko holding his hand like this and staring at him intently.

"Mark!" Rafael called and she clicked the plungers down.

"Ten seconds!" She called, letting go and stepping back again. Jack shook out his arms and toed the line of tape on the floor they had measured out earlier.

He stood there, bouncing on his feet, feeling a bit light and insubstantial.

Miko counted on her stop watch and then, when the ten second's were up, she slapped Jack on the shoulder and he took for the bridge at a good clip.

"Get ready!" She sang out to Rafael, who waited to trigger the second bridge out at the coordinates Jack had provided.

"Now!" she cried, as Jack Darby ran out of sight.

**ooo**

Far out past the desert, where the forests of Idaho and Oregon began to bleed down into Nevada, the late night air rifted open with a hiss of green static.

It lasted for less than two seconds, not even fully forming, before it collapsed back in on itself with a rush of air.

Nothing had come through that the naked eye could see, except for a shimmer of displaced light that hustled across the ground and right down into the shadows, stirring only some leaves as it came up against the base of a tough elm tree.

Jack was breathing a little fast, but it was just the adrenaline. And now, standing stock still, he let the noise bleed away so he could listen to the forest around him.

In seconds, it was like nothing had happened. He was out, and the mission was a go.

**ooo**

Rafael had timed everything like a Swiss watch. For a whole day he insisted on the crunching the math three times, making sure Jack's Chameleon armor wouldn't cause a feedback loop with the bridge. That had been the most critical aspect of their infiltration, and Rafael had built in many fail-safes. But there had been more concerns to troubleshoot than just that.

Over a pizza earlier they had held counsel with each other to work out the details.

Miko had been for hard charging, setting both her and Jack out at his private armory _first_ and then bridging them right back in on top of Airachnid's lair with his dune buggy and RPG's blazing.

A frontal assault on a Transformer? Out. Go in on foot. Alone. The Chameleon armor was his best chance. When she was in control of Arcee, Airachnid had never even saw him coming.

Rafael had wanted to set him out five miles away to insure the bridge wouldn't be picked up if Airachnid _was_ there and had any kind of perimeter scan going.

Five miles out in a strange forest at night? On foot? Jack was no army ranger. So the back and forth began until they settled on half a mile, and a tandem plan to use his Chamleon armor to 'whip snap' him into the forest in under a second.

Rafael had agreed and rose to the challenge like a champ, 'instantaneous bridging' being one of the ideas he had been kicking around. All in theory of course...even how he modulated the feed to hopefully mask the bridge signature. But his timing and his fail-safes had worked like a charm, since they wouldn't have even allowed Jack to bridge through if something was out of sync. With all that careful planning, the only real risk was something going wrong and Jack bouncing off his wall at a dead run back home.

And if _that _was the worstthing that could have happened tonight, Jack could live with it.

But now that he was here, the_ dangerous_ part was that they had no idea what Jack's arrival could trigger. If she was there, would Airachnid notice? Would it flush her out of hiding to then stalk the forest for the intruder? Lie in wait for him? That's where the Chameleon armor came in.

Or, best case scenario, would she just see a brief blip on her systems and chalk it up as nothing? That had been Rafael's hope. And sure it had sounded all well and good over pizza back home, but Miko and Jack knew that creatures like Airachnid were hard to kill for the very fact they never left anything to chance.

And on and on it went as they hashed out every outcome. Miko had summed it all up, once they finally had a rough plan, when she sat back and announced suddenly, "I hope this is all this is for nothing. I hope the bitch is there and I hope she's dead!"

Even Rafael had nodded his head at that, his young face grim.

**ooo**

Jack held still now, listening to the forest return to normal. A quick check showed his armor was running at optimum capacity, no problems bridging or masking the exo-frame's signature. He was a shadow in the shadows. Slowly now, the null field dampening his passing, he started to pick his way across the forest, heading in the direction his eye-piece indicated.

He felt a little chagrined that he felt so..._alive_. He wasn't scared, and in fact he had to fight down a rush of euphoria. For on his back rode a small, compact LAW2 rocket launcher. A special design Fowler himself had come up with for the Autobot war. It was a tough one shot little brother to the RPG that didn't have the quite the range or pack quite the punch, but it did come with a warhead specifically designed to kill Transformers. Due to the thermals involved though, you had to get _close_.

That suited Jack just fine. It would be enough when he pressed it up against Airachnid's temple and blew her head off.

That's what _he_ had been secretly hoping for, as Miko and Raf had brainstormed all the possibilities last night. He hoped, quite romantically, to walk into her cave and find her weak, helpless, or comatose. And then he would simply _kill _the bitch and come back home.

He replayed that scenario in his mind about ten times before he finally drew near to her cave.

_This is it. _


	24. The Spider's lair

Jack Darby peered slowly over a fold of wet leaves and twigs. His eyes were wide and staring.

_Remember what I said about not being scared? _He asked himself_. Uh huh. Well forget it._

From his vantage point, Jack could see the black maw of Airachnid's lair down on the forest floor. It looked like a round, open mouth, gaping wide in the dark. A blot of shadow that much darker than the surrounding shadows.

From somewhere in his memory, Jack dredged up a picture of a certain fish that blended into the bed of the ocean floor until another fish happened to wander in front of it's mouth. And then _wham _it was gulped down in the blink of an eye, never to be seen again.

That damn cave sat there just like such a predator, waiting to slam it's mouth shut.

Jack looked up at the blowing dark clouds through the canopy of leaves overhead. They were thicker with rain and moisture this far out from the desert and there might even be a storm coming.

Like in the movies, they raced across the face of the full moon, which glowed with eerie white light that turned the forest floor into a cacophony of hidden menace. The shadows danced. Jack grimaced and shook his head as he looked back at the lair's entrance.

The wind howled around him and stirred up more leaves and bracken, filling the night air with the stink of wet rot on top of everything else.

_Christ almighty, this is to much._

It wasn't werewolves he had to worry about.

_ S_till, he held fast, hardly daring to move and straining all his senses for any sign that Airachnid was nearby. As his eyes adjusted, he noted the wisps of angel hair moss and long strands of spider webs hanging down over the entrance of the cave. They were blowing about slightly in the wind. He frowned from his small knoll, beginning to get the feeling the place was abandoned.

Well...he expected no less, despite how his daydreams had been fooling him. She never would have stayed here anyway after their last encounter, and out here in the fall air, Jack didn't want to think about how he didn't have a clue what to do now since no one was home.

He sighed and dropped his forehead onto the back of his hand. He didn't question how he ached to kill Airachnid, he just felt the hollow burn of frustration, anti-climatic and bitter.

Still, he meant to have a look and as he slowly stood up, he got the shock of his life as something came rustling out of the cave and across a bed of leaves in the dark.

_Holy fuck!_

He didn't dive down, the sound and movement might have given him away, but just as his heart rate spiked, he noted the small black and white badger making it's way across the forest floor from the cave.

Jack could have spit acid, his stomach rolling over, but then he got his composure back and shook his head again in disgust.

_Furry little bastard._

A few moment's later and he stood at the cave entrance. He held still for some time, noting the smell, the air...his other senses clearly telling him no one was home.

But then, maybe she was.

He couldn't quite say why he did what he did next, but Jack unlimbered the tough steel tube of his LAW2 rocket and popped it open with a snap, standing there and holding it as if he expected to flush a lion out from it's den.

Nothing happened. And with a mix of relief, trepidation and regret, Jack Darby stepped into the cave and made his way inside.

**ooo**

It was empty.

And judging from the cave, under the blue glow of his flashlight, Airachnid had closed up shop a long time ago. Much longer than six weeks. What items there were, were buried in dust and blown in leaves with plenty of signs that animals like that badger had come and gone freely. There were some old canisters and crumbling piles of webbing left over from her fight with Arcee. Some bent up shelves and scraps of nothing here and there. Blaster marks on the walls.

He traced his finger down one of them and sighed, looking up. The roots of grass and weeds hung from the ceiling and the whole place smelled damp and musty. She had even pulled the up the flooring.

Well and truly empty. Jack stood in front of where she had strung him up on the wall and tried to rape him, more or less.

It was a strange feeling to be back here.

He turned where he stood, shining his light back up the tunnel. Right over there is where he and Arcee had had sex in front of Airachnid. To get even with her. He could see Arcee now, her sleek blue lines, her long legs, on her all fours, grunting and gasping and slapping her ass back against his lap with perfect machine precision. The gorgeous lines of her high and tight breasts, the round curve of her ass and the sexy taper of her lower bare back. Slender shoulders...the angles of her face. Her hands.

He longed for her. He missed the sound of her. He missed their sex life. It seemed like years ago that he had naively stopped her from dispatching Airachnid in this very cave. And a week or so later he had felt so righteous convincing Arcee that they had done the right thing. They had made love two times that afternoon, up in that secluded meadow where they had talked.

And now, because of him, she hung suspended in an energon bath for almost two months, unmoving and healed in body but with no way to tell if she had a mind.

Arcee was the real victim here. Airachnid had boasted of it when she had taken control, setting Arcee into a deep hibernation in her own mind. And then she had managed to fool everyone for months.

Now, if Arcee ever woke up, she would be completely clueless. She wouldn't remember a thing about mom, Optimus, Jack or the horrible chain of events that had taken place this year.

Privately, this was what Jack was hoping for. In fact, it was one of the few things that kept him going. He needed to believe that _one_ thing out of this mess could be spared the disaster of all their relationships colliding in such a nightmarish fashion. And that one thing had to be Arcee. _Should_ be Arcee.

Granted, she would have to know sooner or later and learn what had happened, but she would would wake up innocent and _stay _that way.

And Jack hoped to have a certain head in a specimen jar to present to her when she did wake up.

_But how am I going to find Airachnid? What do I do know? I wish Arcee would wake up. _

Suddenly a thought rifled through Jack's mind like a bullet and he nearly staggered at the enormity of it. He blinked, feeling like someone had gave him a mild shock at the back of his head. Wasn't there some famous historical figure that said if you eliminated the impossible, what's left must be the answer? He swallowed heavily and with shaking fingers, unthinking, Jack reached up and disengaged his Chameleon armor.

**ooo**

Something exploded at him from the wall of the cave. Moss and bracken burst in the air like a grenade as some thing tore out of it's hidden alcove and flew at through the air, attacking in a flash of flailing arms and snapping steel teeth. Instinctively, Jack dropped the rocket rube to fling both his arms up in front of his face just before the impact of the hissing steel nightmare knocked him over.

He cried out as the metal spider parasite clutched at him, it's eight legs tearing at his Chameleon armor. A small round mouth of teeth in the center of it's body chewed at the tough steel bar of the exo-frame on his arm. If he hadn't been wearing it, the thing would have chewed through his _wrist_.

"Holy shit!" Jack screamed, ducking his head as it raised a scorpion like tail and slashed it at him, burying a long, needle-like dagger in the ground under him. He wrestled with it, shoving the crossbar of the exo-frame further into it's mouth to keep it from biting him.

It pulled it's tail back with a snap and raise it high again, poised to stab a second time.

Jack ducked again, bodily shifting the whole thing with both arms to spoil it's aim and the dagger just grazed his cheek. The thing hissed at him. With a twist of his shoulder, he grabbed the tail with his right hand before it could be withdrawn and crushed it in his exo-grip for it's pains.

The little monster screeched and tore away from him, leaping back off him onto the cave floor. It's tail came apart in crushed segments and before Jack could recover, it was scuttling past him, heading for the exit.

He spun on the ground where he lay, catching it by the stub of it's ruined tail as he rolled to his knees.

"No you don't, you little fucker!" He snarled, pulling it back towards him through the litter on the cave floor.

The thing wailed loudly in a machine code rage before Jack smashed his armored knee down onto it's back. Once he had it pinned he wasted no time and he reached down with his exo-frame hand to tear all the legs off it's body. First one side and then the other. Having done that, he flipped it over and smashed his armored fist back into it's fang filled mouth as it thrashed around like an dissected crab. It screech again, heavily damaged, and Jack took it by the stub of it's tail and flung it back up the cave away from him with a grunt.

"Fuck!" he gasped, stunned at how quickly his life had come to hang in the balance. He leaned over and just let himself breathe for a moment. All the tension of this day's events had exploded in less than thirty seconds of violence and his hands were shaking.

_Whoa. _

He felt his face with free hand, noting that amazingly the dagger had not cut the skin. That was to close. And yet...Jack felt grimly satisfied with himself. He had fought back and fought back hard and fast. He nodded his head at his own self examination, feeling his heart slow down a little. Then he quickly climbed to his feet. The servos of his exo-frame glowed as if charged from the battle.

_Fuck yeah, I can do this. But that was stupid, Jack._

He cleared his throat and spit, brushing himself off and looking around. He half expected the spider-thing to self-destruct over where it lay. It's why he had flung it away from him as far as he could. He could hear it now, thrashing around on the ground over in the shadows.

Stupid that he had forgotten his own words of wisdom.

Airachnid never left _anything_ to chance. And she must have left his little playmate there to be triggered by the presence of a human. Or just as likely, an Autobot. A parting 'ace of spades' signature card, the vile _bitch_.

Good thing it wasn't her style to leave a string of landmines.

He picked up his flashlight. The gig was up and Jack suddenly felt vulnerable. He had taken to long. Miko and Raf would be chewing their knuckles by now and there could be _more _surprises lying in wait. Still, it was pleasing to see that thing hadn't detected him while he was cloaked. Only when he had foolishly turned the suit off.

_Time to go._

He retrieved his rocket, securing the weapon, before with a grim smile he hefted up a tough chunk of iron pipe and headed for the exit.

He meant to stop and beat the thing flat into the ground on his way out but then he checked himself. There it lay in his light, face down, trying to flex it's body and move but it was completely hobbled, looking like an angry metal Frisbee. He flipped it over with his boot and it hissed at him with broken teeth.

The iron pipe slammed into it's mouth and Jack rolled it around, snapping and prying the teeth free. He smiled at it's convulsions and obvious rage.

"It just occurred to me, you little turd, where were you _going_,huh? Gonna run home to momma?" he sneered at it.

When his work was done, Jack tossed the pipe aside and scooped the thing up with his exo-frame fist. He held it like an oversized oven mitt by it's back and the thing emitted a burst of damaged snarls and hisses.

But it was still very much alive.

Maybe Airachnid left something he could use here after all.

"You got a homing beacon don't you?" He smiled at it. It ignored him, convulsing in his hand and screeching with it's broken mouth.

Jack Darby lowered his hand and trotted out of the cave.

**ooo**

He was no longer afraid, and stepping out into the black forest under the rolling clouds he took a deep cleansing breath, enjoying the smells of the forest now. The wind howled and the leaves blew...and he never felt more alive.

Because now he remembered his _earlier_ thought, staggering as it was, and he couldn't get back to base soon enough. What was more, he may hold the very key to tracking down Airachnid in his hand. This was the break they needed. _He_ needed. The bitch had made a mistake in programming her little minion to return home. Probably so she could gloat over another murder, if possible.

But now it was Jack Darby who was gloating. This thing could lead him to her next lair.

He raised the round little monster up to the light of the moon, despairing no longer that they would ever find Airachnid. He shook it at the night sky, feeling an urge to shout in triumph.

Why not? He had earned it.

"You missed me, bitch!" He cried to the night.

"And now we'll get some answers!"

_**To be continued...**_


	25. Rest and Relief

**Rest and Relief**

More than ever before, Rafael and Miko were desperate to see the land-bridge open, heralding the return of their friend. When Jack's call came, it found Miko and Rafael in Rafael's room, as close to arguing as they had ever come.

Miko's patience had begun to run out the moment Jack had disappeared hours before. As per plan, she had relocated everything to Rafael's room and then she sat still for maybe five minutes before she was up and pacing around. Rafael was ready for her, summoning up what nerve he could but arguing with more reason, as she started the long process of pestering him to hurry. Hurry _what_, he had no idea. He had done his part and Jack was on his own, with strict orders to hurry up and _wait_.

But in an ironic twist, Rafael's commitment to Jack warred with his sense of right and wrong and his _own_ worry would soon trump everything and he would pick himself up and take it all straight to Optimus.

So, the two of them started in on each other. A very confusing, and yet compelling, tense argument where Miko wanted to be bridged out and Rafael had to refuse her. And Rafael's nerves would get the best of him and Miko would have to stop him from blowing their cover.

At one point Rafael had to wrestle Miko's hands off his computer, and Miko had to pull with all her might to keep Rafael away from the door. This went on until Rafael was a veritable nervous wreck. For on top of everything else, Miko was powerfully sexy to him these days, young man that he was, and she made him queasy just by smiling at him on a _calm_ day. To argue with her like this made him sick to his stomach and finally she could see he was close to losing it completely. And who would bring Jack back if there was an emergency? So she had shoved him back down into his chair and planted herself firmly in her own, half blocking the way to the door.

No more fighting. A couple of sodas helped. But the waiting started all over again and Miko held her temper longer than she ever had before. Even so, she felt like kicking the card table over by the time Jack's call finally beeped in.

Like switching on a AC unit, Jack's voice evaporated the tension in the room in a flash. Rafael triggered the return command and was up standing next to Miko, waiting just as eagerly for Jack's return.

Jack trudged back through the land-bridge, none the worse for wear, and they both let out a deep sigh of relief. Then they were rushing him, questions flying, reaching for him, but he held up his own hand and brought them up short.

"Watch it!" He said, his face dirty and tired. He held his exo-frame hand back out behind him to the side, away from his friends.

Miko had the better vantage point and her eyes went wide.

"What's _that!_?" she gasped.

Rafael had just pushed his glasses back up his nose when Jack brought his hand around to show them. And he got the shock of his life.

A metal Frisbee, like a big flat oven mitt, hissed at him with a busted up mouth.

"Holy shit!" Rafael spat, his first swear word in the last six months.

**ooo**

Miko clamped the empty stasis tube shut firmly, her lips a tight line and everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's it. We're solid." She grinned at last. Jack turned and sat down on Rafael's bed, his shoulder slumping wearily. Miko and Rafael stepped back and surveyed the hissing pie plate laying in the bottom of the empty tube before turning towards Jack.

"Jack, we have to tell someone. This thing..." Rafael began.

"If this thing meant to explode, it would have done so by now. And there's no sign of any transmitter. By I'm telling you, it tried to run for it. That can only mean one thing." Jack wiped his face with a towel Miko had handed him. "It's Airachnid's handy work and it was running home to momma. There's got to be a homing beacon in there."

"I agree." Miko said quickly, her eyes shining. "This is perfect!"

"I dunno." Rafael took off his glasses, cleaning them nervously on his sweater. He was wavering again. Almost immediately. True, keeping such a creature secret in the middle of the base was above and beyond anywhere Rafael was willing to go. Jack was to tired to feel much of anything, though.

"Raf, I know this has all been pretty hard for you. I've asked a lot. But we've come this far and I still need your help." Jack dug a knuckle into his eye. "I don't know what else to say." he shrugged.

Miko stared at him, sitting there drained and tired, and she turned to level a serious stare a Rafael. The indomitable little computer wizard summoned up some spine, his frayed nerves tightening up with a touch of resentment after all the stress he had endured tonight.

"Boy, you two have really been smacking me around like a ping pong ball."

The both of them looked at him in mild surprise.

"I still think we should tell the Autobot's. But...but I won't betray our trust." He wiped his mouth with his fingers, looking grim.

"Look, Raf. Keeping in mind everything else you said, if this is going to be a problem...then all right. Let's take it to the Autobot's." Jack was to weary to care at the moment, the drained adrenaline left him that tired. Miko turned to him in surprise and he looked up at her.

"You must want to also, right?" He wasn't berating her, he was just worn out.

"It's been the norm, yeah, but let's remember what _you_ said." Miko answered him, turning back to Rafael. "If we take this to the Autobot's, we're _benched_. Done. Especially now...and Jack will _really_ feel the heat."

"You two are ganging up on me." Rafael said quietly, sitting down on his own stool and feeling distant from them.

"Nooo, these are just my thoughts. But I don't want to hurt you.." Miko sat down herself now and leaned forward on her stool. "So...if you want to take it to the Autobot's as Jack said, then I'm ok with that too." Miko didn't look at Jack, who just sat quietly.

"So now you're both going to dump this one all on me? Just like that? So I can break our cover and turn snitch?" Rafael looked pained.

Jack opened his mouth but Miko was faster.

"No! It's not that. It's not a _guilt trip_, Rafael. We argued all night about this very thing but Jack's right. It's not worth driving a wedge between us. You have a say in this too and...and we want to respect that." She was serious. They both could tell. And Rafael fell in love with her a little, even after all the pains she had given him tonight. "If you want to take it to the Autobot's now, then it's a go." she sat back and waited.

Rafael stared at them both, back and forth for a moment, then he looked over at the stasis tube sitting about eight feet away on the floor. He just stared at the 'Frisbeecon', mulling it over. Miko's abrupt change in tempermant still showed she was all for Jack, and again, Rafael didn't want to disappoint his friends. He sat there quietly, looking thoughtful.

Miko looked to Jack, afraid she had over-stepped, but he just smiled at her with a small nod, turning back to await Rafael's decision.

Jack really did mean it. Coming out of that lair intact had drained a lot of tension out of him for the moment. He couldn't exactly say why he put the reins in Rafael's hands just now, but the kid deserved that much. They had only gotten this far because of Rafael. He could either take it to Prime, or finish cutting his baby teeth. He was roughly the same age Jack was when they first met the Autobot's but Jack had no idea which way he would jump.

And then there was the matter of Jack's_ other _revelation he had had tonight. Out there. For the moment, he kept it to himself. As excited as it had made him at first, he was still cautious not to get his hopes up. For right now though, he needed to see how Rafael would handle the rest of this evening.

Rafael finally took a great big deep breath and let it out just as slowly. Then he straightened up and looked at his two friends, his bitterness vanishing.

"Ok. I've been thinking how we can get a safe look inside that thing." He said and Miko gave a squeak of delight, jumping off her stool and rewarding him with a rare breast-pressing hug. Jack smiled, feeling a lump in his throat and unable to answer for the moment. Miko took care of it.

"Ok...how do we do that?" She stepped back, rubbing her hands together and her eyes shining again in excitement.

"Simple." Rafael said, sounding more sure of himself as he reached up and straightened his glasses. "It can't be that much tougher than a Scraplet, right? So let's find a fire extinguisher."

**ooo**

All three human Autobot companion's leaned over the exam table in Rafael's private own little work area, set off to the side in his bedroom at Autobot base.

"Is it dead?" Miko asked on Rafael's left.

"Gotta be. We froze it ten times more than we did any Scraplet." Jack had both hands clasped under the table, on Rafael's right, leaning in nervously and feeling like a novice when it came to technical aspects this involved. Rafael hadn't spoken. He was quite focused. He had insisted they all wear tough gloves and aprons with protective clear face-guards. After getting set, he now had a dozen implements at hand, with thick magnifying goggles set over his own glasses. He pried up a tiny metal plated with a tough steel probe as he finished laying the 'Frisbee' open like a specimen. Miko and Jack leaned in even closer at his elbows.

"It's dead." Raf sighed, relieved. "The cold cracked it's power supply. Right there. The energon's evaporated."

"Is that all?" Miko asked, her eyes wide.

"No sign of any explosives. It's pretty basic in here." Rafael's mind was working fast as he went on. He was in the zone and all business. "It's a regular little monster, though. Fast. Designed to kill. Airachnid must have studied Scraplets at some point."

"To bad they didn't eat her!" Miko spit.

"And the circuitry?" Jack asked, ignoring Miko. Rafael poked around a bit more, and sure enough there were relays in here that were meant for something more. Cross-interfaced circuitry. He smiled.

"There's more than meets the eye." He joked, turning to look up at Jack. His eyes must have been four inches wide behind his magnifier and despite himself, Jack laughed. That got all three of them laughing

The tension bled away again as they all straightened up and stepped back away from the table. Miko was the first, pulling off her gloves and face-guard, Jack and Rafael marginally slower.

"A little anti-climatic. I felt like we were performing surgery for a moment." she sighed.

After securing everything that showed this night's activity, the three of them had ended the night here in Rafael's workshop and it was getting close to dawn. Jack eyed his equipment bag and half eaten sandwich, feeling now that all he wanted to do was get back to his room and sack out.

He took Rafael by the shoulder and looked him straight in the eye.

"Thanks, Rafael. For everything. Tonight especially." Jack smiled warmly. "But the offer stands. This thing gives you any more surprises, you go and get Ratchet _first._ Let _me _deal with the fall-out."

Rafael smiled, his professional pride at stake. "I can handle it..._we_ can handle it."

"Never the less, you keep those hydra-clamps secure and that E2 field going. Okay?"

"I will." Rafael didn't add any boasts. Caution was his second nature. "I'll get you your answers."

At that, Jack let out a sigh. "I think I'll go pass out." he said with a final smile, letting his hand drop.

"I'll give you a hand." Miko said and Rafael saw them off before retreating back to his table, already tugging his gloves back on.

**ooo**

Miko and Jack didn't say anything to each other on the way back to his room, Miko carrying a few extra pieces of his gear for him and keeping her face neutral. Jack didn't look at her, though he glanced over at her as she walked next to him a few times. They had maybe ten minutes before any agent or Autobot showed up in the halls. That was part of the plan too. Miko would run blocker during the morning as Rafael worked and Jack recuperated. She had already fortified herself by sleeping earlier that day. Coffee would see to the rest.

As they both got his gear into his room finally, Jack dropping his heavy kit bag just inside the door, Miko stepped back out into the hallway and held still for a moment.

Yep, the base was waking up. Today Bulkhead and Optimus were due back from their mission and she thought she heard Ratchet far off in the distance. She stepped back into Jack's room and closed the door.

Then she locked it.

Jack didn't notice. He had already walked over to his bed, let himself do a half turn, and had flopped down onto the mattress beautifully, his boot heels making a definitive clunk on the floor as he landed.

As she bundled everything out of the way of the door, Miko started to hurry, worried that he might fall asleep right where he lay. But he hadn't. As she came up to the bed, Jack's eyes were open, though tired, and he stared at the ceiling again like he had before. What it would be now? Three, four hours of sleep? Then another nightmare and more coffee? She hated all that.

"Are you okay?" she asked, standing at the edge of the bed.

"I told you everything that happened." he sighed.

"I was just asking." she sounded a little wounded and Jack's head came up.

"Huh? Oh. I didn't mean to sound like a smart ass. I'm just tired." His head flopped back. "I need a shower." He had stripped down to his fatigues and black t-shirt once they had secured the 'Frisbee', just stuffing everything else into his gear bag. There were still some leaf bits ground into his hair and his hands were dirty. She didn't care. In fact, she liked it.

She made up her mind, knowing again that she was being to bold, but she knew no other way. What's the worst that could happen? He would keep at her at arms length again? Then again. he was probably laying there thinking he should go see how Arcee was doing. He would keep up this punishment of himself until he dropped.

_Not this time._

Without being asked, Miko slipped up onto the bed and swung her knee over Jack's legs. He looked down at her just as she crawled up over him on all fours, stopping face to face with him.

"Miko..." He warned her, looking up at her rather nervously.

"Will you shut up? Just once?" She admonished him and then kissed him. Jack Darby was no robot. Neither was Miko. To the surprise of them both, he kissed her back and she thrilled to see that he did nothing to push her away this time. Pointedly, she dropped her waist over his, as she had once before when they lay together like this.

Jack tensed up a little.

She was still dressed as she had been earlier in the evening. Beige jacket, and matching light khaki shorts, black tank top and tights with her knee boots. How she could look so fresh and pretty after such a stressful night was beyond him. Maybe she really _did _feed off the excitement and if her kiss was anything to go by...well, he was only human. He couldn't ignore her forever.

Miko would have had that kiss last forever. Her hair spilled down around Jack's face and they still kept kissing. To her, in this moment, they weren't kids anymore and the woman inside her could hardly help herself. She knew Jack needed her, could feel it inside her chest, could feel it in _him_. And even though he was dog tired, there were other needs more important than sleep.

As they broke away, Miko pointedly moved the smooth contour of her own crotch up the front of Jack's pants. Her eyes took on a sultry look and she nearly purred.

"Ah haaa." She smiled slowly, feeling his surprising strength responding to her body. She moved again, rolling her hips a little as she continued to straddle him, holding herself up on her hands just above his shoulders.

"Miko." Jack said in a strangled voice, looking up at her as her long hair fell down around his face. "I'm really tired." But his voice lacked any conviction.

"You got to let it go." she said strangely. "You've been sleeping alone for months." He went to say something but she reached down and took up one of his hands instead and moved it up under her jacket, closing it over her left breast. He hadn't noticed that tonight she wore no bra...but he noticed now.

"Miko." he said. But there was no tone to his voice. He was just saying her name. Like she had asked him that first night on the couch. It made her tingle. So did the strong manhood she felt pressing up against her, rubbing her in that perfect way against her own tingling sex. She was gasping a little when Jack took his other hand and cupped her other breast all on his own.

Her nipples were so hard now, pressing out through her top and into his hands and when his fingers found them she moaned, reaching over to brush her hair out of his face. Jack groaned in return at how Miko began to grind against him more fully, her hips and firm bottom rolling up against his erection so strongly, they both were moving slightly on the mattress.

She was dry humping him. That's what she intended. He could see it now. For she made no further move to undress either of them. His hands were shaking as he felt the delicious soft mounds of her breasts. He could clearly see that she _wanted_ him to put his hands up under her shirt but she was leaving it to him.

So that's what it was going to be now, huh? She couldn't have all of him but she wouldn't take no for an answer either. So she would satisfy him, bring him relief, in any way she could. Tenacious and beautiful. He wanted to touch her naked skin. The strength of the desire surprised him.

But he couldn't. He didn't dare. And he felt like a fool. To do so would have broken the flood waters and she wouldn't be leaving his bedroom this morning after all. But he also felt that he couldn't tell her to stop either.

He didn't want her to. If this was Miko's way of settling for whatever he would allow between them, he himself couldn't deny it.

Yes, there it was, she was looking down at him with that appraising stare, her cheeks flushed a little and gasping as she bucked her warm crotch up and down the length of his erection just under his pants.

In that instant, as they made eye contact, they both knew this was all it was going to be this morning.

He felt a little sad, but Miko just leaned down and kissed the end of his nose, encouraging and forgiving him all in one go. Then she pushed herself back up, smiled, and continued to move her waist against his lap.

Things started to happen fast then, both of them growing more heightened from the sound of each other.

"You're going to make me..." Jack grunted a little, his body reflexively pushing up against her for a moment. Miko hadn't expected that. Her own sexual experiences were limited despite her tenacity and boldness. This was as new to her as it was to him.

She felt his strong hard on press up into her shorts, hitting a place she hadn't expected between the small soft lips of her labia. The fabric of her tights pressed down over her clit from the pressure and she gasped loudly.

"Oh shit!" she hissed.

Jack relaxed back, breathing harder.

"You're going to make me cum in my pants?" He asked with a half grin of embarrassment. Miko grinned back down at him

"If...if that's what it takes. It...it will help you sleep." She gasped, both of them working their bodies together now.

"Oh wow." Jack groaned.

"What do you care? You need to take a shower anyway." Miko grinned wickedly. "Do that again!" She cried and Jack didn't need to be asked twice. He lifted her up as he had before and she rolled her hips against his manhood in return, grinding herself hard against him through their clothes.

Twice. Three times. And then something happened up under her own tights that surprised even her.

Little jolts of pleasure were circling all through her breasts and nipples as Jack felt her up but then suddenly, like a current, that feeling connected with what she was feeling between her legs.

Her eyes went wide as she realized what it meant. The warm growing tingle in her clit suddenly turned into a burst of radiating pleasure washing out from her sex. It coursed through her, down her thighs and up through her tummy in a aching wave of delight, heading back up to her breasts and increasing her pleasure there tenfold. Her lower back even tingled.

Miko pinched her eyes shut as hard as she could but it was no good. Jack saw it all, felt her tense up and knew what it meant when she sucked in her breath.

"I'm cumming!" she couldn't help but gasp out.

Nothing would have stopped Jack Darby from doing the same. And he made everything worse, and all that much more delicious, by pushing up into her with his waist harder than ever before. Lifting her off the bed and letting her imagine the deep spurts he was aiming at her pussy, separated only by the hot wetness of her own clothes.

"Oh fuck. Fuck!" Jack cried, straining, his head back. Uncaring that he released what he did in his own pants after weeks of self imposed denial. Did Miko know what she was doing? Her hands gripped his sheets, her eyes shut, her mouth open, straining against him and cumming right along with him as he held her up.

Of course she knew. If it had to be this way, then so what? He wasn't thinking of anything but her and as his own orgasm died down, he lowered her slight frame down to the bed softly.

Miko, still straddling him, came right down over him then, shuddering with her own depletion and collapsing a little on his chest. Together they just lay there and breathed deeply, letting their bodies calm down from the unexpected climax of the long dormant sexual tension between them.

Long black strands of Miko's black hair lay over Jack's face like perfumed silk. He didn't move. He didn't want to. He just kept his eyes closed, and moved his arms up around her now, releasing her precious breasts. She snuggled into him and Jack held her close like this, holding onto the fact that for the moment, Miko had banished every single worry and concern he had.

They stayed like for some minutes, until it was Miko who sat up with a sigh and smile. Jack opened his eyes and looked up at her, unable to talk.

But for the first time in weeks, at her own ministrations, Jack Darby's eyes were at peace.

Calm.

Miko would do anything not to have him slip back into the tide that was always washing around inside his head.

"Don't say a word." she said, holding one hand on his chest. "Just do one thing for me." She asked as she brushed her hair back out of her face with her free hand.

"What?" he asked softly.

"Just go to sleep. That's all. I'll take care of everything." She said as she slipped off of him and stood up, leaning over to caress his cheek. "Just sleep for me, Jack."

Jack looked up at her, wanting her to stay.

He was still watching her when she pulled off his boots and threw a light blanket over him. He didn't care _one bit_ what state he was in. All he wanted to do was keeping looking at Miko.

She smiled at him one more time, then she slipped quietly over to the door.

Before she turned off the lights, Miko looked back at Jack Darby and watched as he closed his eyes.

And finally relaxed.


	26. Resolve

**Resolve**

June Darby was all cried out.

She sat quietly at the kitchen table having dinner. It was set only for one and she was picking at her food with her eyes looking a little dull, a magazine untouched to her right. She was hunched over in a thick sweatshirt, hood up, with one hand tucked between her knees and the other mechanically bringing scraps to her lips. Her sneakers were kicked off and her feet were drawn up on the chair's spacer. She wore jeans but she was still cold, what with this fall weather.

Sitting by the patio door didn't help. And some perverse other self kept her from eating dinner somewhere warmer. Like the living room. She refused to turn on the furnace yet.

It wasn't lost on her all this self-imposed discomfort. The psychology of her shame ran deep. But she was all cried out.

What words could describe what she felt? She hardly cared anymore. She just drifted now in a vague, detached way, going through the motions of her life these last seven weeks and thinking herself in circles so much she even threw up once. That was the same night her upset had just sort of melted away and her turmoil left her...along with much of her spirit.

Despite what the circumstances were, she felt like she was being cruelly mistreated by Jack. Couldn't help it in fact, no matter how much she tried to reason out what his feelings must be or how much she deserved it.

She had expected not to see him for some time, but when a _month _had passed, with just brief stop-ins, it began to feel more like a permanent distance than an uncomfortable one. Now it was close to two months. And whatever line-up she envisioned having to deal with...anger, resentment, loathing, denial...the one she didn't expect was his absolute detachment. Selfishly, she could have even expected a little comfort and understanding from her son...but there was nothing. Just nothing.

The trust was gone.

June impatiently brushed a knuckle at a tear gathering at the corner of her eye. She wasn't so cried out after all.

And what about Arcee? From what June had heard, she hadn't stirred a finger in seven weeks and there was Ratchet's horrible prognosis that she might never wake up again. Just sleep a dreamless sleep until...until what?

June felt horribly responsible for everything. It was hard to believe that some time ago she had bemoaned her dull life, then had come to regret being involved with Optimus, and now faced the reality of having sheered apart several other relationships that would never be the same again.

She straightened up from her plate suddenly and smacked it off the table, hating anything and everything in that moment, and it busted most satisfyingly against the side of the kitchen counter dividing the room. Her fork slid away and teetered for a second on the table's edge, and then it too rattled to the floor. June sniffed and picked up her magazine only to methodically start shredding it, tearing the cheap over-inked newsprint into ribbons.

Then she shoved it all away from her and stood up, coming around the table with a need to do something, but knowing there was nothing to do and nowhere to go.

She found herself stopping in the doorway leading out of the kitchen and into the living room, staring at the blank TV screen and breathing a little hard.

She hated being home alone like this. It felt like a box Jack kept her in, with a giant red arrow hovering over the city of Jasper pointing at the roof. Right next to a huge teleprompter that listed her wicked deeds.

All lit up for the world to see where the _whore _called home.

She knew it wasn't that easy. That it really wasn't _all_ her fault. But being June Darby, working mom, she could hardly resist the reflex to take the blame on herself. And all that did was make her uselessly depressed. And what was more, she resented even her own martyrdom, but could hardly help it, right?

_Dammit anyway!_

The house felt like a box with no windows where she was going stir crazy with guilt. There was no room, work, past time or activity here within these walls that could let her escape from her feelings.

She plopped down on the couch, her hands flat on the cushions and stared at the floor, pulling her hood down roughly off her unkempt ponytail.

Watch some TV? Ha! What could compare?

Read a book? It just made her fidget.

Work out? Don't feel like it.

Eat a quart of ice cream? No real appetite.

Masturbate? _Forget it._

The events that had played out had slammed her libido into the basement, through the concrete floor, and down into the ground until it hit the bedrock of Jasper.

So that pretty much answered her social life again. Non-existent. Even her so-called friends in Jasper were distant and vague after so many years with the Autobot's.

Now? She scoffed from where she sat. Like she could listen to bank tellers and grocery clerks piss and moan about their sex lives anymore. What could _she_ add to such a conversation?

_What's that, girls?_ _Where have I been? Oh, I had a forty metric ton sex toy in my life until that wasn't good enough and I hooked up with another giant robot of his kind who happened to be intergalactic lesbian that curled my toes half a dozen times until it turned out she was a psychopathic enemy that tried to rape and kill me. Oh yeah, that's right, she was also my son's alien lover at the time, cheating on him with me, all the while teasing him about being sexually attracted to me while trying to get us in bed together...or cause a double murder/suicide. Would anyone like some more coffee?_

June rubbed her hands over her face, spitting out a lone stray hair in irritation and brushing the rest back off her face. She needed a shower. She needed to shave her legs and do her nails. She needed some sleep. With a sigh, she held up some of her loose long hair, letting it fall through her fingers. Her ponytail was an absolute disaster today.

With a blink she noticed a single white hair mixed in with the rest of her long black strands. She separated it carefully and then gave it a savage yank, relishing the little pinpoint of pain on her scalp.

Ten seconds later she was in the bathroom mirror, studying her face and hair and looking for more. She was shocked to see herself. The bags under her eyes, the sallow complexion. Hollow cheeks.

_Death warmed over! And I had gone to work today!_

At least work was something. She had thrown herself into it about a month ago, taking extra shifts, putting in extra long days. So much so her paycheck had been...well, enormous. But _this_ was her appearance?

"Omigawd." June raised up her hands, her fingers spread wide and studying her red skin. "I'm fucking hideous." She groaned. She whipped off her sweater and t-shirt and noticed she had lost weight. To much to fast. She wasn't toned anymore, she was a little boney. And her perky, though moderate breasts, looked flat and uninteresting. She grabbed her ass, half imagining the seat of her jeans had more play in them.

It had only been seven weeks, but it was enough. Plus, she had been running pretty wild and reckless on many a night with Arcee before everything came crashing down. Keeping up a night life that would have exhausted a twenty year old gymnast.

_I don't want to think about that!_ June stomped her foot in frustration.

"What's next? Do I start talking to myself?" She said out loud and then she blinked and chuckled a little, smoothing another tear away from her cheek. She leaned in to study her face some more in the sharp light of the bathroom mirror.

What was it that decided her as she stood there? Some inner-strength? Some threshold for heartache? A turning point to rise above it all and fight to salvage what she could of her life? Or was it just her detached boredom taking note that it gave her something to do to whip herself back into shape? Because while she didn't feel much better...she suddenly felt more determined.

**ooo**

The next day June returned to work, scoured clean in fresh clothes and well groomed, although still a little gaunt. For the remainder of the work week, she ignored the vending machine sandwiches and black coffee at lunch time and took salads, proteins and Gatorade with her outside in the crisp fall air. At night she chased her treadmill for five miles and made it clear to her co-workers she was taking her full three days off at week's end. Plus Saturday and Sunday. The girls look disappointed, have quickly grown accustomed to the 'new' June filling in for them. She could see all the ruined plans with boyfriends and late season barbeques reflected in their faces. It made her resentful.

_I look like shit for weeks and none of you even offered me a cup of coffee. So tough beans!_ _Do your own damn work._

Then, in the clear for five days, June refreshed herself in body if not in spirit. She cleaned the house, she freshened the air, she shaved, she plucked, she lotioned, she ran, she ate healthy, showered twice a day and she slept, slept, slept. If she woke, she worked some more, and if she caught up to it, she defied all logic by soaking up the sun in her backyard, goose pimples on her legs and her nipples like diamonds, ignoring her neighbors as she lay there in her bikini.

Then at night, more running, more protein, more hot baths and more sleep. Her hands stopped shaking after three days without coffee. Just water and juice, flushing herself out.

Jack never came home. June's eyes went from dull to grim, but in a week her body was shining and sharp and her head was clear. She looked as if she had been to a spa, but one last hurdle remained.

The sixth night, with more determination than anything else, she masturbated. Or tried to. Her body wouldn't wake up sexually. Her mind threatened to spiral back into loathing, but she kept at it. After all, how she felt stemmed more from her feelings and she needed her _body_ to remember the need if anything else.

So that night, she shut off the TV in her bedroom and spent some time alone in a much different way.

But just when her body seemed to give up the slightest moisture, and her breasts would begin to excite her with their feel and shape, her mind would slip, the mood would vanish, and her passion would evaporate. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried again.

Nothing.

She tried harder, opting for more vigor than a soft caress.

Still nothing.

Horribly, she began to struggle with the fear that perhaps Airachnids tainted bio-fluids had somehow damaged her sex drive. Some biological curse, like the withdrawal of a powerful drug. A parting shot that forever altered her body's chemistry.

And there was no one to talk to about it.

It just wasn't working. In disgust she dropped her legs and hopped off her bed, her stomach fluttering nervously in how her nipples simply refused to do anything under her fingers. They did well enough in the sixty degree air of her backyard when she was sunbathing, dammit! Now? Nothing.

She padded down the hallway on bare feet and into the living room, not quite certain why, but feeling the need to do so all the same.

She headed across the carpet and with a sweeping gesture, flung open the curtains off the large pane glass window to let in the night sky of Jasper.

Then she backed up and stood there, quite naked and breathing deep, her hands curled into fists at her sides.

Her house actually sat on a small rise in the ground. Just a swell, really. This stretch of homes going down the street were luckily afforded a small view where one could see the rooftops of other neighborhoods stretching all the way down o the lights of downtown jasper. Quite a view for an economic home in _these_ parts.

For now, it was enough to feel like she was totally exposed to the whole world.

_Is this what I need? What's wrong with me? Have the sick lusts of Airachnid forever warped normal sex for me again? Or have I warped them myself? Am I standing out here out of some need to be watched? On display? Act slutty? Or is it because I am naked, cut off from my bedroom, and Jack might come home and catch me like this?_

She put her hands on her hips and stared at the carpeted floor, wondering if anyone could see her from here. Most all the homes were dark and the streets were quiet.

_I have forgotten what turned me on. And now I can't remember how to do it anymore without the taboo. Or was it that alien attraction to Optimus? When did I last feel horny...as just myself?_

She turned and walked quietly through the house, stopping to stare at the backdoor leading into the garage and all the times Jack had come bustling through it.

_And then there's Jack. Admit it to yourself, June. Was it you? Or was it Airachnid? I wish I could talk to him about it. _

Unbidden, her thought's went back to a time when there were no Autobots or their intergalactic war. When life was dull. And June's idea of taboo was not wearing a bra around the house with that old pair of tattered shorts she knew was way to sexy to wear casually.

_I used to tease him and his friends and I used to like it. And look what came of all that. _

June's nipples did _not _stiffen. Not even now.

_I came back to my senses. Airachnid tried to make us...get together. We didn't. We stopped those desires. But the idea remains. Like a stain._

June walked into her bedroom and slumped down on the end of her bed. She stared at the shadows.

_The idea used to turn me on. I'm glad it doesn't anymore...but that still leaves me wondering if something in me hasn't been broken. Or ruined. Or burned out._

And then she made up her mind. Her week of rejuvenation was over and she would have to slog through another four days of work before she had time off, but tomorrow, as soon as she got home, she knew what she was going to do.

_ I'm going out to the base._

June herself didn't quite know what she meant to do, or who she was even going to go see...or even why. But part of her was afraid to hold still. Part of her was afraid she would loose her momentum and would fall back into her depression. One she wouldn't be able to claw her way back out of.

That was when she realized she meant to go and see them _both_. Jack _and _Optimus. If the two men in her life wanted to avoid her like the plague, fine, but she didn't have to sit still for it. She didn't dare anymore.

She would go to them...and she would make them listen.

_Listen to what? I'll have to be careful, but I can't keep going stale in this house anymore. I need to breathe. Or scream._

June sat there quietly, just long enough for her toes to get cold, before she turned and crawled under the covers.


	27. Resolute

**Resolute**

Jack Darby woke up like someone had snapped their fingers. He laid there for just a moment and then he was moving. The only time he meant to slow down that day was to untangle himself from his blanket, and then he was on his feet, his mind already picking up speed.

If only there had been two or three of him.

He didn't know what to do first, but he more or less had to decide on what was sensible. So five minutes later a shower was blasting him clean and he soaped up and rinsed off completely on automatic. A scramble for some clothes, while brushing his teeth, and then he was tugging on his boots, stopping just long enough to spit and rinse. Leaving his toothbrush by the sink in the kitchen, he was out the room and down the hall with a towel around his neck.

There had been a time that Jack was much more timid than he was now. His inherit sense of right and wrong had always made it impossible to keep the truth off his face. He couldn't have lied to save his life. But now? One would think that in these times, he would have ended up looking _shifty_ rather than_ guilty,_ after some of the nefarious choices he had made lately. But the truth was he just didn't care. Guilt was a matter of perspective to him now. He had hardened his heart to some things and he had just two goals in life that mattered.

To be there if Arcee ever woke up, and to kill Airachnid. Frankly...the rest just didn't matter.

In a strange way he was at peace with himself, figuring that he had done all he could, and if he was found out or confronted then so be it. Life held no surprises for Jack Darby and if there were any, they paled into comparison to what drove him.

So he paid the agents little mind as he passed a few of them in the halls. He didn't even slow down for Bumblebee in the distance, just a quick wave was all. When he passed the cafeteria though, his stomach growled like it was setting off an alarm and he backed up a pace and headed right on in.

You could say one thing about having crack field agents around...they made sure they had their sweets.

It was nothing like the movies. These people were the real deal and led very serious lives. And if they were called upon to a fight an intergalactic war far away from their families and any other kind of normal routine, they would _not_ be denied one of the few pleasures they could count on.

Sure enough, three big fat boxes of doughnuts sat on the table bursting with all manner of toppings and types at any hour of the day. The bakery in Jasper was making a killing.

Jack was suddenly ravenous and had one down with a glass of milk in moments. A second was in hand and he was refilling his cup when someone came into the room behind him.

"Hey kid, you gonna pay for those?" An agent called out. Jack kept chewing. What was this guy's name? Miller? An arrogant slob by most accounts. He was only in logistics but fancied himself hardcore because he was allowed to carry a gun around the base. A second agent stepped around him, rolling her pretty eyes in a nice face framed by wavy black hair and a cute up turned nose.

_Cindy. Cindy something. _

She was thirty two and was one of the few agents that could make riot gear look sexy. But she was in a customary pant suit now. A black one, with dress jacket and white blouse, her own sidearm at her hip. She was quite attractive looking like that, though she was a bit compact for her size with more muscle than curves.

What was is it about that look, though? Didn't hurt that her breasts seemed to defy gravity and she always made sure to leave her blouse unbuttoned just low enough to show a hint of black lace bra.

She elbowed Miller aside and came up to Jack with a tolerant smile.

"Never mind him, kid. He just wants the ones with sprinkles." she cocked her hip, liking this youngster and the cute way he had frosting at the corners of his mouth.

Jack was ignoring Miller completely, staring at Cindy the agent rather pointedly and the moment drew out long enough that she felt a distinct zing of adrenaline in her stomach from the way he was looking at her. Then he reached over and took a third doughnut, with sprinkles, and handed it to her.

"Thanks." Cindy managed to say lightly, amazed at the kid's boldness. "You got some frosting on your cheek."

Jack wiped it away, unfazed, before smiling back at her.

"And you've got some face paint on yours." he said, reaching up to brush her cheek with a thumb.

Cindy the agent blushed, reaching a hand up to her face and recounting the early morning maneuvers she had suited up for.

"It's kinda cute." Jack Darby said, startling her, and then taking his milk and his second doughnut, he spared Miller not a glance as he headed out the door.

Cindy the agent felt herself tingle between her legs ever so slightly, turning to watch him go and vaguely registering Miller's impotent glare at Jack's back. Let him stew. Miller was a nobody who would spend the next ten minutes at the table trying to look down her shirt and she turned back to the coffee pot to hide her smile.

But that Jack Darby? She wouldn't think of him as a kid anymore. Nice butt too.

**ooo**

Jack though, had already forgotten about her, for he literally hit a crossroads. Here the hallway branched off towards Rafael's room and Central Command.

For a moment he warred with the impulse to check on Rafael's progress over how he hadn't been to see Arcee since yesterday morning.

And then there was Miko.

The thought of Miko would have obliterated any sexy-tough field agent in Jack's mind...had he still been thinking of any. Miko was over-overpoweringly sexy, delicate, alluring, and sassy-tough all in one go. With the curves to match. Jack remembered something he had heard about the 'beauty of the orient' and if there was any truth to it, Miko had it down pat with a terrific dose of spunky tenacity. What made it all the more intoxicating was that she didn't even seem to try.

It was like her outfit's chose _her,_ and her body had easily matured these last four years into a figure that women twice her age would kill for. She would look good dunked in _mud_ and appeared to be quite oblivious to how hot she really was.

Then again, the way she pressed her breasts into Jack's hands last night, and what they had done together, spoke of someone who knew _exactly_ what they were on about.

Jack had stopped in his tracks, licking his thumb and wondering where she was. She and Rafael might have been sacked out. In truth, he didn't even know what time it was. And Jack was surprised to feel a tingle of disappointment that Miko hadn't come back to _his_ apartment.

_The bed's big enough after all and it's not like...Arcee!_

Jack cringed. A wave of guilt washed over him in time with a wave of deep, almost painful hope as he recalled his _other_ revelation from the night before. He hastily finished his milk and stepped over to shove the cup into a recycle bin.

His impulse then was to_ run_ for Rafael's room. Right then and there and spill the beans, but he hadn't made it this far by being hasty. Still, it was a _terrific_ struggle to force down his emotions and his feet were moving even before his mind was made up.

He would go see Arcee first. Right now...he _needed _to.

**ooo**

He was in Central Command a minute later and thankfully he was alone. He went up to the huge rejuvenation-tube off to the side in what passed for medical with the Autobots. It still swirled with the deep glow of liquid energon, the sky blue waves of current moving around like a massive lava lamp. Through it, he could see the murky outline of Arcee's recumbent form.

At least she looked comfortable. As if she was lounging back in a high backed throne of some kind and Jack found he missed her immensely in a way that no other woman could touch.

No _earthly_ woman, anyway.

How could a fourteen foot tall intergalactic female robot look so...sexy? Not that he cared or even questioned it anymore. She just was. The lines of her body enticed him as they always had, since the first moment he had run his hands over her when he had come across her in bike form all those years ago. And in her humanoid form, Arcee would always and forever look like a sexy aerobics instructor, the way her blue armor accentuated her slender body.

Her breasts curved down in perfect machine symmetry over a flat stomach, to a lovely narrow waist, which led down to her 'whale tail' style armor that rode low around her curvy hips. Topping this off with her slender arms and long legs, along with the now obvious paint scheme that drew your attention to her anatomy, Jack didn't know how anyone could _not_ call her sexy.

He looked up through the murky energon to the fuzzy outline of her head and shoulders, missing those amazing eyes and beautiful face. The smooth curve of her helmet and her wonderfully soft lips, her slender neck and delicate shoulders. The sound of her. The scent. The tingling warmth of being close to her. Her touch.

He sighed. All he could hear was the gurgle of energon, the hum of the machine, and smell the cold concrete draft of the base. She was shut off from him completely.

_Maybe._

From where he stood he could see her head hung forwards on her chest a little as she rested, with a tiny little stream of bubbles trickling out from the corner of her mouth. He longed for her, standing there, pressing his hands up to the glass.

"I've got an...idea. Just an idea." he said, his voice hurting him. He had to swallow and clear his throat before he continued.

"Just hold on, baby, if you can hear me. Just hold on. I promise she's gonna pay."

Suddenly, he had to see Rafael _immediately_. He would _not_ get his hopes up, didn't dare, but being this close to Arcee it early drove him out of his mind to not act on what he was guessing at.

_It's just a guess. Just a guess. Just an idea. Stay calm._

What was more, there had to be some other news about that 'frisbee-con'.

Half ecstatic and half anxious, Jack turned away quickly, meaning to head right back into the base. Just then, Ratchet came walking back into Central Command carrying a crate.

The sight of Ratchet sobered him and brought Jack up in time to slow down a little. A second more and he would have been running, but the sight of the old medic reminded Jack just how much he was maneuvering behind the Autobots back. A lot. Even now. But it was becoming easy to play this new game of half-truths and hidden secrets.

_Just another day for Jack Darby._

Jack forced himself into a calm walk, the old medic immediately spotting him coming over from Medical.

"Ahh, there you are." The Autobot surgeon turned and called out to the young human. Jack Darby came in here regularly and it pained Ratchet deeply that there was never anything new to tell him.

"You're looking a bit more rested than usual." he added, fully expecting Jack to ask that same dreaded question anyway. Today though, he would spare the lad the trouble.

"Although I'm afraid there...is no change." Ratchet finished hastily, turning away with his box of supplies and setting them down to hide his unease.

"It's ok, Doc." Jack answered differently this time. He stopped and looked back at Arcee, waiting for the old Autobot to straighten back up. Then he looked up at Ratchet with the most peculiar expression.

"Just keep your fingers crossed." he said with a tight smile.

"My what?"

Before Ratchet could say anything more though, the young human went past him and headed off back into the base at a good clip.

"I'll see ya later." he called out.

And just like that, he was gone.

Ratchet stood there, frowning a little, surprised that Jack had left already and more than a little perplexed at his parting words. He held up his fingers and moved them around, studying them for a second.

"Keep my fingers crossed? Why for Cybertron's sake would I need to do that?" he asked no one.


	28. Brothers in Arms

**Brothers in Arms**

As much as the grimmer Jack Darby told himself not to, his hope increased with every step towards Rafael's room. He had managed to keep the revelation he had out in the woods to himself for about twelve hours. But now he couldn't help but feel excited. It warred with his need to find something on Airachnid and he couldn't say for sure which result he would act on first.

Those thoughts were exactly on his mind when he made it to Rafael's door, hesitated, and then went on in.

He nearly collided with Rafael himself.

"Jack!" Rafael cried, his eyes lighting up even as he held up both hands to ward off the collision. A second later and he was dragging Jack into his room by his sleeve.

"I got her!" He cried, looking tired but ecstatic. He was so excited he even swore.

"I got the bitch!"

**ooo**

Rafael only let go of Jack's sleeve once they were at his work table. He had dragged him right across the floor and up to it, saying something about sleep and his favorite TV show. But none of that mattered.

He had been busy. For how long Jack had no idea, for he still didn't know what time it was. But, however long it had been, Rafael had worked wonders. Even though Jack wasn't to sure what he was looking at.

"Is that an aquarium?" He asked.

"Yeah." Rafael hurried over to tidy up some cables now, taking up a caulking gun of all things in his right hand.

"Was is all this?" Jack asked.

"Something _else_ I've been kicking around. An idea...well, not an idea anymore because it works!" Rafael looked at him, his eyes shining.

"Start from the top, Raf." Jack smiled, hunting for a stool. He forgot to ask anything, because it was pretty obvious Raf had much to tell him.

As he sat down, he could see that Rafael had fashioned a large glass apparatus, made from an up ended aquarium, to be set down over the laid out 'frisbee-con'. What was more, there were cables, relays and cooling fans built into a big black control box at the back with an extra thick cable running down off the table and to a power conduit in the wall. From this black box, to Jack's surprise, there were three smaller cables coming in through the glass where Rafael had cut three perfect holes. And these were hooked into the Con ambush unit itself.

"You're not...reactivating that thing are you?" Jack asked as he took all this in.

Rafael laughed.

"No, no. It's all perfectly safe." Rafael shoved his glasses back up his nose, noting Jack's surprise. "What this is, is all a containment unit. More or less."

"Made out of glass? To contain what?"

"I'll get to that."

Even as he spoke, Rafael fussed around the edges of the glass aquarium with his caulking gun. He was adding dabs of sparkling gray caulking here and there like a baker finishing a cake, squirting a generous amount around the holes at the back just to be sure. He had caulked it once already from the looks of it, but after a few adjustments he was giving it the once over. Jack, taking in even more, could see that the 'frisbee-con' had been dusted with a fine gray powder. Rafael stepped back finally and checked his ever present laptop. The whole works was tied into his computer with a bundle of fiber optic cables running around from the back.

"That should do it." he said.

"Okay Raf, break it down for me." Jack rubbed his hands on his jeans.

Rafael turned to him.

"It's a containment unit for signal carriers. Radio waves. Specifically the ones utilized by Transformers." He held up the caulking gun for Jack's examination. "Lead powder silica caulking. The whole inside of the aquarium is coated with a finer, transparent mix that has trace-reflective particles added to it. Along with some RubDub."

"RudDub? Isn't that..."

"Car wax." Rafael grinned, looking even younger than his sixteen years.

"Great stuff. Fantastic properties. I tried four different pastes before I hit on that." he sniffed.

"How long you been at this?"

"Since you been asleep." Rafael straightened up even as his shoulders slumped. An exhausted little half-shrug. Just like that he went from excited to looking tired, but his eyes were still energized.

"Where's Miko?" Jack looked around.

"Sacked out. At least I think so. It's about five o'clock in the afternoon. You've been asleep the whole day." Rafael smiled at him, setting the caulking gun aside on the littered work table, crowded with rags and tools and extra cable.

"So...containment for signal carriers." Jack crossed his arms and tried to follow where this was going.

"Uh huh." Rafael nodded, stringing out a last cable and clicking it into place at the back of his computer. Then he turned back around.

"I couldn't very well activate the homing beacon inside the base without taking precautions, right? But it's more than just that."

Jack suddenly processed what he had heard.

"You said...activate the homing beacon?" He dropped his arms and sat forward eagerly, but also a little alarmed.

Rafael waved him back, and saving the best for last, he hardly noticed that he swore again.

"I said I got the bitch." He grinned once more. And then he flipped a switch.

Jack turned to watch the cooling fans on the black control box engage and then he could hear the thrum power building up through the cables. There was slight play of static electricity inside the aquarium, like the kind inside a novelty lightning ball, only much weaker. And even as he watched, the fine powder coating the frisbee-con swirled up and around in the air like a tiny cyclone and began to coalesce into a solid shape. The work light on the table dimmed.

"What is that?" Jack nodded his head at the swirling gray powder.

"Aluminum cling powder." Rafael answered. The whole thing hummed a little louder now and as Jack watched, the powder built up and condensed at the center of the frisbee-con's body. Then it curled upwards, slowly at first, but twisting up into the likeness of unicorn's horn. It stopped, off center, and pointing way off to the left.

"See? Got her!" Rafael smacked his hands together and pumped his fist in the air. Jack turned to him, a little lost. Rafael made an adjustment on his laptop and then he noticed Jack's questioning stare.

He smiled triumphantly.

"Like I said, it's more than a just containment unit. I tricked her." Again, up went his glasses.

"It's not like I could pull out a computer chip, stick it in my laptop and do a 'Google' search." He leaned over and tapped five keys in rapid succession. Jack cringed inside. For someone like him, he had been more or less thinking it would have been something just like that. Rafael went on.

"It's beyond me to get inside a Transformer like that. And both Autobot and Decepticon alike shield their signals and cloak them, so tracing one is almost impossible when they don't want to be found. Then there's this little beauty." Rafael rubbed his hands together. "He was set to 'read' only and there wasn't much you could do with that. But what I _could_ do is set up something like _this _around it. Then I triggered the homing beacon I found with a false relay, reversed the polarities, electro-charged it, dusted the Con with aluminum cling powder and taa daa!"

As he finished, the power suddenly dropped off, along with the hum, and Jack looked over to the see the silver unicorn's horn lose it's shape and crumble back to powder. The work light came back up to it's usual strength.

"What's happened?"

"The reverse feed signal is pretty weak. It degrades when it doesn't get through the lead and you loose coherency after about a minute. And I set it up to shut down at that point, so nothing burns out."

"You've lost me a little Raf." Jack shook his head.

"Jack, that 'unicorn horn' is like the needle of a compass. I gave the homing beacon physical shape and source reversed it. From the strength of the signal, the carrier wave frequency and the direction it's pointing, plus a few other tricks, I managed to triangulated the coordinates."

Jack looked over at him, his eyes going wide.

"I know where she is." Rafael said, nodding his head at the unasked question.

**ooo**

"This...this is amazing." Jack had to swallow.

"You better believe it." Rafael grinned.

"Raf, you did it!" Jack cried and he hopped off his stool and bundled the smaller Rafael up in a crushing hug. Rafael patted Jack's back with one hand shyly, straightening his glasses as the older boy stepped back.

"Wasn't easy." He said with a soft, dismissive smile.

"You made it _sound_ easy. Does Miko know?" Jack turned and bent down to peer into the aquarium.

"_Nobody_ knows. That bad boy blocks all output. Even Ratchet wouldn't know it if he was right in the next room."

Jack rubbed his chin, thoughtful, as Rafael turned back to his laptop and clipped a thumb drive into it.

"As I said, completely safe. But the implications are incredible." He tapped away. "We could do this using a Vehicon if he had similar homing device inside..." He looked over at Jack who had turned to stare at him with an all new expression.

"What? What is it?"

"_Have _you told anyone else?" Jack asked quietly.

"No, I wanted you to see it first but we can..." and then the dime dropped for the younger man.

"Oh_ nooo_." he groaned.

"Come on, Rafael. Don't make me go over this again." Jack glanced over his shoulder as he backed up and sat down on his stool again. He could see it written all over Rafael's face what he had been hoping for. It was probably a greater part of his inspiration behind these last twelve hours of work. And he must have been counting on the fact that if he could physically prove where Airachnid is, then it would make sense to take it to the Autobots. He had been convincing himself for _hours_ from the dejected way he looked now. All his eagerness at his ideas finally given life evaporated and Jack felt a little sick doing this to him. He sat down on his own stool, slowly.

"Jack...you _can't _go up against her alone."

"I did last night."

"Last night was a scout."

"There was a very real chance she could have been there."

"We worked all that out." Rafael was tired and sounded frustrated. "I talked myself into it once, but this is the real deal!" he clipped out the thumb drive and held it up. "The best lead we have! We've _got _to tell Optimus."

"We can't."

"You mean_ you _can't. Why not? Why _not_, Jack?" Rafael looked tortured.

People act a little differently around each other depending on whoever is present at the time. It can affect what they say nearly like an ingredient added to a recipe. Without Miko here, Rafael was showing just how upset this all really had him and he wasn't sparing Jack for the sake of Miko smothering his concerns with her girlish enthusiasm.

"This is more than just your guilt and your vendetta. I'm sorry, but it's true. Airachnid could _still _know more than enough to ruin us all. Why, the whole base has been on yellow alert all these weeks waiting for Megatron's _warship_ to show up of all things. And there's got to be things we haven't even imagined yet. The Autobots have a right to know so they can defend themselves!"

His argument had grown in strength. Maybe to much. He must have been rehearsing it a little and that meant he intended to argue the point all along.

_Just great. _

Jack flared up some. That 'guilt' remark hit a nerve. And some of his own turmoil boiled up quickly. It surprised him. It surprised Rafael more. Jack was deeply grateful for all this and had been caught up in the excitement, but he could see he had more 'convincing' to do and it made him...he didn't know what.

Unsettled. And this made him defensive. And feeling defensive made him angry. For some inexplicable reason he suddenly was angry at the fat lazy agent that had mocked him over the doughnuts. Jack tried to ignore how fucked up the psychology was.

_Does everything have to be such a fucking battle all the time?_

"And what are_ they _going to do? Bridge out there, smack her around a little, and let her escape again?"

Rafael's eyes went wide at the sudden change in Jack's voice. Well, what did he expect? Rafael had worked his magic and now he held the key to the dragon's lair but it was _Optimus_ he wanted to give it to? Jack went on, letting his bitterness show through a little. Last night he had been to drained to care but now he was close. So close. He could feel it. After months of hell, things were turning around and falling into place. They had to. His earlier sincerity that morning had been real...but now so was his anger.

"Or are they going to manage to subdue her long enough for Prime to make a speech before she slips through their fingers again?"

Rafael blinked, his cheeks paling a little as Jack shockingly went on. Jack saw his surprise and some sudden, hidden, terrible other self couldn't help but spit out more. He didn't feel like convincing anyone. For once, he wanted to say something true.

"You _know_ it's going to be that way, Raf. Optimus will have her in the palm of his hand and then he will let her go. Willing or unwilling. Hell, it's almost like he can't help himself. The great tragic moment where his high and mighty convictions trump everyone else's safety a _fuck_ of a lot more than I_ ever_ could." Jack didn't realize he was waving a hand in the air.

"And then we get to listen to Airachnid's laughter drift back up from one of her escape tunnels before we turn around and head home to pack our bags."

Then he looked over at Rafael who was staring at his hands now where they cupped the thumb drive. He looked miserable, and a little scared, over on his stool. Arguing had never been his strong point. He just usually delivered one good sentence and then hoped for the best as everyone tried to talk him into what he didn't think was safe. Or right. Jack knew this, and now?

What had been a jubilant reveal of hours of work had all come crashing down in seconds, turning around into something nasty. And all because Jack Darby had kept himself locked down so hard he couldn't breath anymore. It was like being a marathon runner who can see the finish line and just as he feels he's going to make, a tree falls down in front of him.

_Get a grip, Jack. This is Rafael._

"Oh, Christ. I'm sorry, Raf." Jack finally sighed and rubbed both hands over his face. Hard. The younger man sat still.

"What's got into you?" Rafael sounded as miserable as he looked. "I know you explained it all in your room, about being benched and all...but why are you so mad at Optimus?" he asked quietly without looking up.

"I'm not mad at Optimus. I'm mad at myself...and Airachnid. At...at everything."

"You're asking me to help you _kill _her again." Rafael said. He could feel Jack's frustration and was trying to understand it. After all, as they had said last night, they were all close to their Autobot partners. Thinking of Bumblebee helped, but not much. Not like this. It was hard for Rafael. He had been hoping to just keep everyone safe.

He looked up and the two friends, closer than brothers, stared at each other for a moment.

"Yes." Jack said with finality. "I am. We're so _close_, Rafael. I need this."

Rafael sighed and looked back down.

"You were willing to help me last night." Jack prompted.

"And last night you said it was up to me if I wanted to take this to the Autobot's afterwards." Rafael frowned into his hands without looking up this time.

"You decided not to. I'm sorry if it's mean of me, but I'm asking you to stand by that decision. I know you got your hopes up all day today, but I'm asking you stand by me again."

Rafael gave a humorless chuckle and just shook his head. He still didn't look up.

"Help you bridge _out_ again." It wasn't a question. He held up the thumb drive and wiggled it in the air.

"As soon as we get the chance." Jack answered with finality.

Rafael did not hand him the thumb drive. After a moment, he just reached over and set it on the work table near a greasy rag. He looked like he wanted to start tidying up. Avoid the turmoil in his head by organizing his stuff. But he didn't, he just looked around at his room, tired and dejected and winding down like a clock.

Jack glanced at the thumb drive and he knew what it meant if he picked it up. Rafael was leaving it all up to him.

Then he recalled his revelation from the night before. One more time. Far back in his thoughts where it had been pushed since almost colliding with Rafael when he opened the door. He knew then he could ease the blow a little, by at least giving Rafael a way to bring new ideas to the Autobots. If he had any. Because now he meant to use his important revelation to take Rafael's thoughts in a whole new direction.

And if there was any guilt to be felt at this manipulation, it would just have to get in line.

Pointedly, he reached out and took the thumb drive. It didn't feel like anything in particular in his hand, but now he held the coordinates to Airachnid's next lair.

Jack Darby tapped it against his knee and Rafael gave it one glance before turning to shut down his laptop.

"Raf." Jack said and the younger boy did turn back and look him the eye, at least.

"You've done me a great service here and I won't forget it."

"Yeah...and we've got more to do, huh?"

"Then it's only fair I come clean about what came to me out in the woods last night. I've got something to tell you and only you can help me. And, if all goes well, depending on what you think of it...this _is_ something we can take to the Autobots."

"Really?"

Jack nodded his head slowly.

Up went the glasses.

"Want to get some sleep first?" Jack asked and the way the care lines eased away from Rafael's face gave him a lump in his throat. He cared a great deal for this little genius but above all he was resolved in what he meant to do about Airachnid.

"After making such an announcement? Who can sleep?" Rafael smiled wanly.

Jack stuck the thumb drive in his pocket.

"Ok then...I've got an idea."


	29. Peace of mind

**Peace of Mind**

Rafael _did_ sleep. Finally. After fetching a plate of doughnuts and a jug of milk, Jack had come back and insisted he eat something even as he finished scribbling down a dozen different ideas in a notebook.

Jack was nominally glad that he had told Rafael his thoughts when he was just about ready to collapse. It would insure some measure of privacy, even now, until they could better decide how to go about things. But that would come later after the kid woke up.

The new turn around of emotions and ideas finally overwhelmed Rafael and once he was full of milk and doughnut, with Jack tidying up for him and making sure everything was secure, he began to fade quickly.

Jack had turned back around to find him sitting on the end of his own bed, his glasses off and rubbing the bridge of his nose. The notebook was in his lap. He didn't put the glasses back on.

"I gotta think about this...later after I've slept. But...but, Jack you should know..."

"Later. After you've slept." Jack concurred, taking the plate from him. Rafael looked up at him meaningfully. He looked more doubtful than excited.

"I won't get my hopes up. I promise." Jack answered him. "And later we'll get Miko and iron it all out again." Jack set the plate on the card table.

Rafael, finally to weary to go on, set his glasses aside and lay back quietly on his bed, much as Jack had done this morning when he in turn collapsed.

In moments, he was sleeping.

Jack tossed a blanket over him much like Miko had done for him. And then he left the room, fingering the thumb-drive in his pocket.

He could only think one thing now, now that he had unburden himself to the exhausted Rafael.

_ Airachnid...I've got you now, bitch._

**ooo**

"Hibernation mode. Maybe we can access it. If it's there." Jack answered, with a matter of fact little smile on his face.

"Omigawd." Miko put a hand to her forehead and rocked backwards with stunned surprise.

"Could it really be that simple?!"

Jack felt strangely at peace. A mixture of relief and comfort that he was here sharing this revelation with Miko in his room. He was was bringing her up to speed with what he had discussed with Rafael earlier, and the two of them had grabbed some food from the cafeteria and brought it back here. Miko was so taken back that she even set down her sandwich.

"Does this mean..." she started to say.

"It doesn't mean much of anything." He answered her, shifting a bite of his own sandwich over to his cheek. "It's all on paper at the moment. The implications are _huge_, but to use Rafael's words, so are the circumstances." He wiped his lips with a napkin. "I've been trying not to get my hopes up."

"Oh, Jack." she smiled sadly.

She set her plate aside and leaned forward where she sat crossed legged on the bed across from him. Pointedly she reached out with her arms and he leaned in towards her, thankful for the hug. She didn't let him go right away. She just tucked her cheek up close to his ear and held on, staring at the wall behind him thoughtfully.

Miko no longer called him dude. And more and more he was coming to value how natural it felt to be around her. A young, beautiful woman close in age.

A moment later, and without saying anything, they broke contact just long enough for Jack to set everything on the floor as Miko gathered up a blanket and some pillows. Then, as he scooted back against the wall his bed was pushed up against, she walked over on her knees and bundled herself right up against him under one arm. Jack put an arm around her shoulders and she finished flipping the blanket over their legs. There they sat, staring out at nothing into his room. Miko had drawn her legs up and had leaned her head against his chest.

"When did this come to you?" She asked after a moment. Jack sat up a little to toss his wadded up paper towel at his plate.

"Last night out in the woods. It was something Airachnid said about locking Arcee away into a corner of her own mind. A place where she was oblivious to what was happening and beyond what a Transformer would call stasis lock." he looked over at his one static-shield window and the evening sky of Nevada.

"Wow." Miko replied.

"It's really been something keeping this to myself since then." Jack sighed as he sat back.

Miko's one hand rubbed Jack's chest a little. "Dude, I would have come back through that land bridge shouting it to the heavens." Suddenly she sat up and turned to look at him, leaning on her arm.

'Why _haven't _we acted on it?" she asked. Jack wiped his lips with his fingers, his eyes thoughtful as he formed a reply.

"I had to make sure Rafael was on board again this afternoon. Because then I could be certain the 'frisbee-con' would be kept secret. So would my little extra curricular activities. And we three could treat it like something we came up with ourselves and let the Autobots add their input."

"Yeah, but to not be down in medical_ right now_?" She stared at him. Jack couldn't help but feel that powerful, spontaneous nature of hers that was such an integral part of Miko's spirit. He cringed a little.

"I said I'm trying not to get my hopes up."

"Ah...sorry." she kissed a finger and pressed it to his chin.

"What's more, Rafael is exhausted, it's already evening, and it can wait until tomorrow. It will give us some time in the morning to go over how we're going to present this idea to Ratchet."

Miko turned and tucked herself back under his arm without further comment. She snuggled closer, letting both her knees sit against Jack's thigh. He himself sat straight legged against the wall, but he did pull up the opposite leg now and rest his arm over the bent knee.

It felt good to be here. Not just at the base, but where he found himself feeling peaceful. Strange to have such a quiet night compared to the night before. At present, no one required anything of them and it wasn't lost on him that both of them opted to be together rather than head home or make other plans. He smiled. Like Miko would take a chance on missing out on anything.

She had woke up this evening after an extra long day of running blocker for the three of them and had been looking for Jack when _he_ found _her_. And she must have cleaned up quick when she got up, because when he turned the corner he had had a bit of a shock.

In a rare show of casual dress, Miko hadn't bothered to _get _dressed. After her shower, she had only pulled on some light sweats and a white tank top, complete with flip flops. The sweats were a dark blue and the tank top was pure white and he could never figure out how such a simple contrast could look so good on a woman.

And look good she did, drying the ends of her long black hair as they headed for the cafeteria.

He couldn't help but think how it was always a touch chilly in the base even at the height of summer, much less now in the fall, but she didn't seem to notice. Her face had just lit up and she gave him a quick hug, as always.

Then there was the lone agent in the cafeteria. He had nearly spilled his coffee, the ham.

Miko's light sweats clung nicely to her curvy little bottom, but in the cool air it was pretty obvious that she wasn't wearing a bra as she hung the towel around her neck and flipped her hair out from under it. Jack had been busy loading up two trays for them both and the guy gave him a little wink when he caught his eye. He tried to ignore it, even though he couldn't help but feel a little pleased that someone had noticed the two of them were together.

He was glad they had brought everything back here, though.

"You know we're applying PC terminology to a Transformer's brain." she said, interrupting his thoughts. "Just how did Ratchet put it?" she turned her head a little.

"That the means they did have allowed him to monitor brain function, but not interact." he answered.

"Yeah, that's it. He knows what he's looking at..." she started.

"But not what to look for." Jack finished. "That's the key to the whole idea."

"Hmmm." She reached up and pinched her bottom lip with two fingers slightly as she mused.

"I bet you're thinking everything Rafael wrote down." Jack smiled a little. "He had a dozen ideas in the first minute."

"Bet you he'll have even more when he wakes up." She replied, dropping her hand down in time with leaning her head back against his chest.

"But it could all be theory. It's all so alien and advanced from our end. Raf even said he couldn't get into a Transformer in the classical sense. So who's to say any human method or means could even begin to offer a solution?"

Jack wanted to reach over and let her silky black hair fall through his fingers. It smelled like honey dew shampoo. And he loved that bright dash of pink she always kept in it.

"We could make it sound very plausible but we don't know anything." He went on, looking away. "Ratchet could blow a hole right through anything we come up with just a word." he added quietly.

Jack felt butterflies all through his stomach when Miko put a hand on his leg.

"Don't say that." She said with feeling, looking up at him. "What Rafael managed with that frisbee-con is_ awesome_. We gotta keep our fingers crossed." She rubbed his leg a little and Jack had to smile. He had told Ratchet that very thing.

"That's the other thing." He sighed, dropping his head back against the wall. "I've had to lock down Rafael _hard_ to get us this far. More than once. I'm hoping this new theory on how to _reset _Arcee, for lack of a better word, will keep him on board. Keep him distracted. Keep him busy."

Miko pulled one leg up a little higher over the other.

"To bad we're not on the Decepticon warship and could use that mind patch-thingy." She said, turning back to look out into the room. She meant every word and Jack smiled again. He had thought of that too.

"Sweetheart, there are things that are improbable and there are things that are _impossible_."

She gave a disgusted little snort. Ever the tenacious and bold Miko.

"There's been more than _one_ wild shot around here involving that ship." she said without looking up. "Look how they got that cure for Optimus when he was sick. Why not leave that an option?"

"We will...if Rafael exhausts any other possibilities." Jack rubbed her upper arm where he had his arm around her.

Miko settled down a bit and just soaked up Jack's warmth for a moment, loving how they were snuggling like this. Her thoughts though, lingered on Rafael.

"I think it's..." But she didn't finish.

"What? That it's only a matter of time before we're found out? In some way or another?" Jack actually laughed a little. "There are so, _so_ many ways we can be busted at this. Rafael is one of them."

Miko could feel him shaking his head at himself. Jack would face _real _heat if he was found out. Maybe even some kind of criminal implications if it came to light that he was raiding the CIA's ordinance to hunt Vehicon patrols.

"I'm not one of them." she said seriously. "I'm in this for the long haul and my lips are sealed." She answered with a measure of vehemence and Jack gave her shoulders a little squeeze.

"I hope it all holds together just long enough to find that bitch and blow her away." was all he said.

Miko didn't answer. Speaking frankly like this when it was just the two of them was nothing new to them. Of the three of them, her and Jack had proven capable of actually killing a Transformer and they both respected that of the other. A little dramatic perhaps, but it was true. And she wondered what Jack would say if he knew this new, grim determination of his to kill Airachnid turned her on.

Maybe he already did.

When she felt that stirring in her body, two things came to her. One...that she cared for Jack to much not to do all she could to help Arcee be revived. And two...part of her felt distinctively possessive of him and a far off niggling worry tugged at her about loosing him back to Arcee before _she_ ever really had him. Because she suspected something there Jack never talked about. And she didn't ask him. But hell hath no fury, right? She cared for Arcee, but all's fair in love and war. Would she really be _that _disappointed if...if Arcee never woke up?

The thought was shameful to her Japanese heritage, but not the way she was feeling right at this moment. They had been talking for an hour and as Jack laid everything out right up to the present, Miko's loyalty to him never wavered. Not even after his words with Rafael. Then, by quiet agreement, they had just snuggled up on the bed like this and that kind of thing was pretty obvious, right? She felt the stirrings of excitement. She felt young, content, safe, sexy and satisfied, but it wasn't enough.

It wasn't Jack Darby. She just began to wonder if he was going to grab her boob again when something else came to her.

She turned under his arm and stared up at him again, leaving her hand on his leg. He looked down at her, his eyes as thoughtful as hers.

"What did it feel like to have this come to you after almost two months? About Arcee and this 'hibernation mode' idea?"

"Pretty damn awful." He confirmed. "She was healed up weeks ago. In all that time we could have..." He stopped and just shook his head. Miko could see the blossoming disgust. More loathing, more heartache, more guessing. More self recrimination always under the surface these days.

All that stuff added up to something she felt like she had the only means to keep at bay.

"Now stop that." She said, her heart beating a little faster. "Things come when they come. Everything has it's time. Right?"

She loved the way the slight bump of his Adam's apple moved when he swallowed. And if his mouth was dry it was because Miko had moved her hand over between his legs as she stared up at him. Fully and firmly, her slender fingers were tracing the growing outline of his manhood, right through his jeans.

"I guess so." He said in a whisper. At some point his hand wasn't on her shoulder anymore, it was on her back, and it slowly moved down to the round firm curve of her butt.

For the first time, Jack Darby wasn't hesitating in touching her and his eyes weren't conflicted. They looked at each other for a moment, Miko searching his face for what she feared, and Jack looking down into hers wondering why Miko felt the way she did about him.

Instinctively, when the time was right, Miko sat up and turned to face him more fully. Jack didn't hesitate _then_, either. He just took her in his arms, right over his lap, to lean down and kiss her deeply. She could feel his relief and his desire in that kiss.

_ All's fair in love and war. I'm right here. I am 'now'. _

Her hand never left his manhood, though she did manage to get one arm up around his neck as they kissed. Miko was adept with her hands. Always had been. Who's to say it was from texting on her phone, or from her natural disposition to mechanics and tinkering. In her own way, under Bulkhead and Ratchet's tutelage, she had become just as skilled at Rafael when it came to innovation. More hands-on than the whole scientific aspect. And she was very hands-on right now.

As she lay back across his lap, her face turned up to his, it was no trouble for her to open Jack's pants and when her hand began to quest for a way into his boxers, only then did Jack tense up.

"Mhh-mhh!" Miko shook her head firmly, her eyes closed as she continued the kiss.

"Not this time." She whispered as they broke contact. She clung to him with her one arm and he sat her up more in his lap, kissing her neck and reaching behind her to gently lift up the back of her shirt. She sighed as he slide his hands under it to her bare back and began working it up higher. Her own pussy and nipples tingled with heady delight as he caressed her body. And she kept on with what _she_ had in mind too. He wasn't stopping her. She wasn't stopping him. What had happened that morning still burned brightly between them, even though they hadn't said anything about it.

Then there was the delightful moment of success when her fingers, for the first time ever, closed around Jack's hard cock.

"Oh, wow." she whispered. But she had to let go of him to help him work her tank top up over her head. Then _his_ shirt followed. They were kissing again, passionately. But this time they're weren't getting tangled up. Her hand went right back around his penis where she had exposed him, glorying in the soft heat that throbbed there and in return Jack ran his hands down over her bare shoulders and down her arms as he lowered his head down and kissed her breast.

Ohhh, how she had waited for _that _moment, too.

She was gasping a little, her free hand stroking the back of Jack's hair, her dark little nipples stiffening into two points invitingly. Miko's whole body felt super sensitive, her toes tingling, shivering as Jack touched her so intimately. She was less than a second from watching him suck her nipple.

"Fuck yeah." She said strangely, thickly. She arched her back a little, the raw warm pleasure she felt easing the harsh word into one of _desire_ for them both.

Then his mother opened the door.


	30. This is my man

**This is _my _man**

Oh yes, those moments are real. They do happen. It's not just in the movies or on TV and perhaps they are way more common in real life than anyone would care to admit. They are mortifying, embarrassing, shocking and uncomfortable in the _extreme _and even though Miko was Miko, she was far from immune to the shock and discomfort of being caught.

Especially like this.

There was a sudden, harsh stab of light that lanced into the softer glow of the bedroom from the hallway. It shattered the loving aura around the two of them instantly. Miko gave out a squeak just before June gave out a gasp, and Jack, reeling up in his surprise, bounced the back of his head off the wall with a dull thump. Then in an instant he knew what was happening, who it was, and knowing immediately why they were here.

"Jesus Christ!" He cried out, snatching up the blanket partially covering his legs. Miko had immediately slapped her arms over her bare chest, half turning in his lap to look over her shoulder at June, her eyes wide with shock.

But of course, when two people make to cover up like that, it only draws attention to the fact that there's something that needs covering up. June raised a hand up over her mouth, her eyes mirroring Miko's as she saw the young beauty sitting half naked in her son's lap. In the next second that ticked off the clock, each one an eternity since June had surprised them both, Jack found his voice.

"Mom!" A pause. His surprise two-fold. "Shut the door!" He was pulling the blanket up, struggling to cover them both and bringing it up around Miko's bare shoulders. The young woman gathered some up herself, pulling it around her.

June did the wrong thing. The _very _wrong thing. The worst thing _ever_. She would regret it for years. Maybe forever. So perhaps, when enough time had passed, a person could find it within themselves to excuse her. Especially after all that she had been through. And how she forget herself in _extremus_.

Because she didn't act like the mother of twenty year old man. In some horrible moment of blind shock, her mind reset to four years ago, evaporating her surprise and replacing it with outrage. And she stayed _right _where she was.

White-knuckling the door handle and jamming the other fist onto her hip imperiously, she glared at them both, her intent _and_ her fury to put a stop to this as obvious as the two spots of color on her cheeks.

"Jackson Darby!" Her voice a lash as she fired off the words. "What do you think you're doing!?"

"W-what?" Jack spluttered, incredulous beyond belief. He could hardly believe his ears. He even stopped fussing with the blanket and stared at her.

"_What_!?" he cried again. But he was so taken back it made him sound guilty under the circumstances. Mistaking him, June still gave it her best glare, framed in the doorway by the hall light like an angry God.

"You better explain yourself." She warned but then, like a lightning bolt, June came back to her senses. She realized what she was saying. What she was_ doing_. And she had no right whatsoever to demand anything, interrupt anything or, worst of all for a mother, _intrude_.

And at the staggering _enormity_ of that intrusion, made worse by her shock, she immediately started to tremble. Her fist slipped off her hip. Then she made the further mistake of trying to let her fury carry her through, committed to this horrible course and trapped in the moment, unable to help herself and at a complete loss for how to rewind the last ten seconds of her life. It was like she was watching a different person. Herself _and_ her son. And in her emotional turmoil, all of these past months clogging up her reason like wet newspaper, she focused on Miko instead.

"You! Shame on you! Put some clothes on!" She spat.

Miko blinked. But in the next instant her embarrassment vanished and her _own_ cheeks pinked. It would have been a mistake to assume you could shame her under _any _circumstances, much less one where she felt exposed. Miko's instincts, Japanese heritage or not, were to fight. _Not_ to feel shame.

And fought she had. She had fought that self same heritage. Fought her parents. Fought to break with tradition. She had fought to be an exchange student and live her life the way she wanted to and she had even fought to be part of an intergalactic war.

But she would be damned if she was going to have to fight to be a woman. Not with someone like June Darby.

She had stood up to June four years ago when she coined the term Helicopter Mom and she was _not_ going to play ball now, no matter what the circumstances were. Even if she had been caught with Jack's organ in her mouth. Which had pretty much been a foregone conclusion until ten seconds ago.

Her mouth hung open only for a second and then it snapped shut. Her pretty eyes flashed.

"Why don't _you _get the _hell_ outta here!?" she fired back, the fiery disgust in her words very real and she even slapped a hand against the wall next to Jack's shoulder for emphasis. Jack looked from one woman to the other. The nightmarish apparition of his mother, and the beautiful Asian girl hugging a blanket around her chest.

"Oh man." he groaned before struggling out from behind Miko.

_What a nightmare! Fuck! What was next!? Was his mom going to cross her arms and tap her foot while he did up his pants?_

But then, it wasn't two thousand five anymore. He was his own man now and his _own_ sense of outrage slapped home half a second later. Especially at what he had heard his mother say. And unsurprisingly what was right behind that were the feelings he had buried for two months. They too had driven him in his need to hunt down and kill Airachnid and by force of will alone he had kept them at bay. Like a lot of other things. But that didn't make them go away. And earlier he had even been a little short tempered with Rafael. Who could blame him? His temper wasn't what it was six months ago.

And now? To be caught like _this_? Those feelings wanted to rush to the fore. They were dangerous and sharp, rattling around inside him like a bag of knives, and he recognized them for what they were. To say his mother had over-stepped was an understatement.

She was in deadly peril now of hearing some _real_ anger.

And with _her _anger welling up at Miko quite unfairly, Jack sided with Miko in an instant. He didn't even have to think about it and he stopped moving to get off the bed. Even though he knew the last thing he should do was take sides and order his mother away...but what did she expect? What _did _she _expect_!?

_ For fuck's sake._

"Mom, stop." He said firmly as June made to say more. He even held up a hand. His tone told her to stop and stop she did, the sound of his voice doing more to suddenly arrest the situation than anything else. Miko glanced at him over her shoulder. Then Jack lowered his hand and just stared at his mother.

"What areyou _doing_?" He asked. He was sitting there, bare chested, slightly behind Miko on the mattress, with the blanket over his lap. His voice, held in check and yet laced with quiet indignation, sent a shiver of horror up his mother's spine. When she didn't answer, he pursed his lips together and raised up his eyebrows in an expectant way.

"I...I..." June stuttered.

"Would you _please_...get _out _of here?" he said evenly in way that brokered no argument.

June swallowed hard and then turned and fled and the moment his door slammed shut, Jack Darby rolled his eyes and dropped his face down into both hands. He sat there grinding his palms into his eyes

"Oh, man." He groaned. Miko let out a breath and sagged a little herself.

"Well! That was perfectly...horrifying." she said, turning back around to her right to look at him. She still held the blanket across her chest.

"I don't know what...she must have..." Jack dropped his hands in his lap, shaking his head in disbelief.

"She had no right to say what she did." Miko flared. "Or to come in here like that."

"It's just been...she just...ah, _fuck_." He sighed.

Now that June was gone, Miko's embarrassment threatened to overwhelm her.

_One stupid, forgotten, unlocked door. Anyone else would have knocked._

Jack's dejected look didn't help either and with the whole atmosphere of their love making evaporated, Miko felt a cold anger threatening to spread through her. She dropped the blanket and leaned over to snatch up her tank-top.

"I don't believe this." She shook her own head now.

"_You_ don't believe it? Gimme a break." Jack replied thoughtlessly with a scoff.

"Oh, is this the part where we start to argue now? Egged on by our own embarrassment?" Miko challenged. She cared not one bit her bare breasts were showing as she pulled her tank top over her head and ripped it down, ready to sail off the bed and head for the door herself. She flung her long hair out of it like a whip, and then she was up and moving.

"What?" Jack looked up, and seeing her expression, he lunged after her, catching her wrist by the narrowest margin. "No, wait! Hold on a minute!" He cried, fighting to over-power her sudden exist.

"Hold _on_!" He repeated. Miko's feet hit the floor and she turned to squirm away from him. Jack flopped over onto his knees as she pulled, but he did manage to grab her other wrist as she fought to pry his fingers away from the first. Her face was a blushing mix of anger and resentment and when he had hold of both her arms, he had to pull her back onto the bed some.

"Let me go!" Her eyes were flashing, off balance now herself, struggling to stand on her knees as Jack pulled her down.

"Will you just wait a second?!" He cried, not letting go. Talk about Deja Vu. This was so reminiscent of that first night they had kissed in Central Command that despite himself, Jack fought a smile. He had to stop her then, too, when he had thoughtlessly said the wrong thing. And he surely didn't want her to get away now, either.

She, on the other hand, was glaring at him.

"Miko! Miko stop it, you're right." He said. "And no, we're _not_ going to fight." He sobered when he saw how angry she was. His hands were still around her wrists, with her smaller hands balled into fists and those incredible eyes were flashing like a thunderstorm. But then he felt the tension go out of her and she grew still. He knew then he could release her and he did just that. They both knelt there, facing each other and then after a moment, Jack swung his legs around and scooted over to the end of the bed with a sigh.

Miko, catching her breath, sat back on her feet and brushed her hair out of her face, turning to him as he sat there next to her.

Agreeing with her had surprised her but she could see that he meant it. It didn't make him any less miserable though. Now he straightened his jeans out and worked his zipper back up, finally giving up and leaving them unbuttoned as he slumped over his knees with both arms. They sat that way for a minute, Miko staring at him and looking down at the bed every now and then. Jack just looked straight ahead. Finally she couldn't stand it anymore.

"So what now?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I doubt very much that either of us feels like...continuing." she sniffed, a little peevish.

He grimaced as he looked over at her.

"I'm sorry." He sighed. "This really...sucks."

"Tell me about it."

"No, it's not just that. It's just..." he looked around his room. "Why does it happen that every time I dare let my guard down something runs up and kicks me in the face?!"

**ooo**

There was that damn turmoil again. It rushed back like a headache and Miko's heart went out to him. She still felt a cold fury that June had shown up at the worst possible moment. Even more so when it was obvious that Jack had been at peace with her here in this room. It's not that she was buying his affection with her body, she just wasn't beating around the bush in letting him know how she felt. Showing him that she was there for him.

They had grown close these last four years and at one time it had almost been a given that they would have ended up together. But they hadn't. And then there was all this business with Arcee. So was it wrong of her to step in now when he seemed vulnerable? Out of affection? Well, that was something she could put behind her. Because she had no other motive and her reasoning was sound. Right along with her desire. Jack Darby seemed haunted, but she was winning him over. Giving him something to hold on to. She didn't know everything behind _why_ he was haunted, but she knew she wanted to be with him.

And while there may have been more to it, with Airachnid and all, for her things were much more black and white and she meant to show Jack that he needn't be alone.

"I know." She said quietly, after a moment.

Plain, pure and perfect. Staving off his isolation, trying to understand it, guessing at more, and finally just determined to love him. But now, horribly, fresh off the wonderful almost-had-been moment of sex, she suddenly felt like she was third in line when it came to the women in Jack Darby's life. Even now.

Miko had a tiny crisis of the heart then, even as it went out to Jack. For in a poetic way, as she looked over at him, she could see the metaphor of him never giving it _back_.

Her feelings hummed like a struck piano wire. At that moment, if it settled in her that she would _always_ come last, the wire would snap. Or was it still to early to tell? After all, they weren't a declared item. But he _had_ been with her just now. There had been nothing else in the world but the two of them. She had been aggressive yes, but not slutty. And Jack had wanted _her._ Wanted _them_. So she resigned herself to the fact it was still to early to give up. Not that giving up was in her nature anyway. But her feelings were not the same in this bedroom as they were in the War. This wasn't a mission or some such thing with the Cons.

She could be beaten here without ever having a chance. That was when she felt that Jack had to make some gesture here after she spoke. For _their _sake.

_Take my hand. Do it now. Take my hand, Jack._

She willed it, her misery welling up. She would_ not _take his. She would _not _reach out. After this evening, after_ right now,_ on the precipice of making love, he had to claim this moment. Claim _her_. It was the only way she would stay put where she had inserted herself into his life.

So she said nothing and held still.

**ooo**

Jack Darby reached over and slid his hand into hers and a second later she was clutching it tight, feeling tears for the first time in a long time. He wasn't looking at her so he didn't notice. He still looked miserable though, so Miko put away her own pain and hugged his hand to her chest now.

"I'm sorry." He said again. "I wish we could just...go."

That surprised even her. The _depth _of his misery was deeper than she thought, even as he sought out revenge against Airachnid.

"The two of us?" she asked and he just nodded.

Miko fought to keep a very typical, silly, girlish smile off her face. Instead, she took a deep breath and let out a sigh, consigning herself to do the right thing in an odd reversal of her earlier anger. But now she felt stronger. She didn't feel like number three anymore. And Miko Nakadai was a hard one to catch if she got ahead of you in a race.

_That wasn't so hard._ _I made this moment. We made this moment. He's more with me now than ever. Maybe being interrupted was a blessing._

"Stop apologizing."

He looked over at her. "You're not upset about all this?"

"Nope. And you shouldn't be either." she replied firmly, lowering his hand to her lap and caressing it softly. "But...maybe you should go catch up with your mom. She's probably pretty freaked."

Jack stared at her. It may not have been wrong for them to be together, but with his life, this kind of thing caused tremors that turned into earthquakes. Miko had no idea. She couldn't have.

_Cut her loose then. Are you taking advantage of her feelings? Or do you really want some kind of normalcy? Not through her...but _with_ her?_

_ So do I leave? Do I get up and chase mom down? Yeah. she must be freaked. And just how do I feel, anyway? I guess that's the real question. About all three of them. And how would I feel if Arcee was here? Am I just a bastard making out with Miko while holding out for better? Or do I really feel it with her?_

_ A bastard would kiss her. _

_ Funny how a kiss would be an empty gesture right now to keep her at a distance. To shut her up. Shut her out. Pay her off. I think she knows that, too. _

_ This is no time to kiss her. _

_ Do I want to?_

"Yeah, I better go." Jack let go of her hand and reached over for his boots and looked around for his t-shirt. "All the shit that's happened...we never really talked about any of it yet. And now this." He shook his head. Miko said nothing. She knew that. She just pulled his blanket up from where it lay behind him and hugged it to her again.

"Are you okay then?" He asked her, tugging on his second boot. For the second time, Miko's her heart soared, but she just coolly itched her upper lip a little with one finger.

"Mmhmm." she nodded with a little smile. She was affirming that whatever Jack said to his mother, she trusted him to defend her honor. Or make no excuses for them.

Jack held still, dropping his leg, surprised to realize that he _wasn't_ going to kiss Miko before he got up. Not unless _she_ leaned over and did so. It fell to her to affirm how it was ok for him to go. And that could only mean the dynamic of their relationship had shifted. Subtle, quietly...definitively.

It also surprised him to realize that he didn't have much of a problem with that.

Miko sat up and put her arm around his neck, just long enough to give him a quick kiss. Then she let him go and smiled at him as he stood up, permitting him to leave her here so he could do what he had to.

"Will you be here when I get back?" he asked, doing up his belt.

"I'll be here." She smiled.

And then she watched him head for the door.


	31. Interception

**Interception**

June's legs felt like jelly as she backed away from Jack's door. Her flesh was crawling.

_I didn't do that. That just didn't happen. I am such an idiot! _

She felt herself breaking up a little and once that started to happen, the flood waters flowed, taking everything else with it. She turned and fled, half stumbling down the hallway back to the central corridor. She hadn't realized how fragile she was, but she realized it now. And how she had been desperately clinging to what was left of some rapidly diminishing belief in herself.

As her own woman and a single working mom, June had faced more than her share of hard times. And through the years one of the things she had gifted herself with was a quiet dignity for herself and for her family.

_Dignity!? _She was as dignified as a _pig _and now she was stepping all over Jacks.

Not that she hadn't _already_. Ohhh, no. And now when she surprised him and Miko together what does she go and do even _more_? Butt in. Make demands. Open her _huge_ mouth and cram her foot in.

She felt poisonous, unable to comprehend how she could act like that. As if things weren't bad enough! As if _she_ wasn't bad enough!

_ Oh my God!_

Out in the corridor_ s_he started to run, faster, and only the fact she was at the base and navigating the halls kept her from really cutting loose with her long legs. That and she might throw up. The need to escape warred with the need to curl up into a ball of shame and that made everything surreal. And suddenly those great big cold halls were strange and intimidating and her only thought was to get the hell out of there.

She wasn't even _close_ to being rational enough to calm down. It grew worse with every step she took. The nightmare of guilt and horror came rushing back over her. Mom-mode wasn't even stopping it. And that is what she tried to do this last week, wasn't it? Pull herself back together and stop moping around? Be a mom? But _this_!? This was the worst thing she could have done. The worst thing that could have happened.

She sobbed. After the last six months she just didn't have the reserves to stomach it. She stood no chance against herself. Her recrimination began back when she fucked that guy during her morning run and ended up having _sex _with Arcee before the day was out. And since then it didn't matter who the players were anymore, or what happened. The cause and effect were blurring and had stopped making sense because her _own _actions during all that were the worst in her mind. One minute she was a lonely housewife finding some happiness and getting laid, and in the next instant she was slut. The things she had done! What that had led to! What it must mean for Jack! And now this?!

It kept rolling back in on itself like bread dough, once again as fresh as ever in her mind.

June gave out a small cry and stopped suddenly, slapping a hand over her mouth, and then, her eyes tortured, she reared up to a waste paper can and vomited weakly into it. She spit once, the tears running down her face and looking around furtively to see if anyone had seen her.

The only thing going for her was that the base was quiet this time of night. No nightmare moment of running into Fowler or Optimus or anyone else. Her hoped for talk with Optimus was a thing of the past. Finished. Done.

_I've got to get out of here!_

And she hurried away down the hall, wiping her mouth with her sleeve and picking back up speed.

**ooo**

There were days that Ratchet was flummoxed by humans and then there were moments that he came close to suffering what Miko called the BSOD.

The Blue Screen of Death.

He wasn't quite sure what that meant, but if it had anything to do with the sudden and unpredictable nature of the entities known as _humans_, then he could easily see it happening.

One minute pretty Miss Darby had come pulling into the base, healthy and happy and getting out of her car with a smile, and the next minute she had come flying back through the doors to the human quarter at a run, her physiology readings all over the place, leaking lubricant and sobbing like she was ill.

"Miss Darby?" He called. But she didn't even slow down.

Before he could take a step, she was flinging herself back into her car and starting the engine. And when she grabbed the gear shift on the steering column his eyes went wide. Her meaning was all to clear to an Autobot.

"By the Matrix!" He gasped. But he had had presence of mind enough to slap a hand down on the door controls and the large overhead door had went up just far enough for June to reverse her car right back under it.

"What's going on here!?" He looked around as she roared away. Bumblebee came walking into Central at an easy pace, beeping softly to himself just as the corner of June's vehicle backed out of sight around the tunnel's curve.

"Bumblebee! What's going on?" Ratchet cried. Bumblebee beeped his own confusion and raised up both hands, at a loss himself and wondering why Ratchet was so worked up.

**ooo**

Jack Darby came into Central ten minutes later. With little surprise he noted that Ratchet was tracking mom's car on her way back to town, Bumblebee standing next to him as they both leaned in towards the screen.

"...little sporadic! See how she's swerving around?" Ratchet fussed. Bumblebee beeped away.

"No, I don't think it's her vehicle. I think she's sick! Either way, she shouldn't be driving." he jabbed a few buttons.

"She's not sick, she's upset." Jack said and the two towering Autobot's turned towards him.

"What's the matter with her?" Ratchet asked bluntly, at a loss. Behind him, the camera view centered on his mom's car showed her headlights weaving around.

"It's personal." Jack slipped his jacket on. It would have been easier if his mother had just bridged in, but no, she had drove. As she usually did. It made him queasy and a little frightened to watch her race back to town like that.

"Can you bridge me out there, Doc?" He asked.

**ooo**

As a nurse, June Darby knew better than to be reckless. But out here on the empty two lane road she afforded herself the luxury of crying openly and not really caring if her tire went over the center line a few times. She alternated one hand to the other, wiping at the tears and her runny nose with the sleeves of her sweater. She did nothing else. She didn't rant or slap the wheel, shout or carry on, she just drove back to town, crying it out.

The whole thing kept replaying in her mind and she felt so..._stupid_!

While they hide it well, a parent isn't immune to feeling such embarrassment in front of their child. And while little kids don't understand the implications if they happen to walk into a bedroom at night, it didn't compare to this. The roles reversed with an adult child? On top of everything else that's happened?

_And their mother is an intergalactic slut!?_

June whimpered softly, the miles distancing herself from the base making it a little easier as she fled for home.

But it wasn't much of a surprise to her to see the far off bloom of a landbridge down the road. About a mile. Such occurrences were common in her life to have someone else appear out of nowhere.

That was a _good _one. She might as well have just bridged right into Jack's _room_ for all the embarrassment her appearance hadcaused. She groaned, dreading who it would be and wanting it to be Jack just as much as she _didn't _want it to be Jack.

But it was Jack. Standing on the side of the road and waiting, his hair whipped around in the cool fall air with his hands at his sides. He stood there and watched as his mother slowed down about forty yards away and just stopped. He smiled a little. Even upset, he doubted that she had made it over sixty. In the quickly fading light, he couldn't see past her headlights but he wasn't so worried now. He sighed and headed for the car, walking over the tough old pavement and up to the drivers door.

Behind the glass, June was gripping the top of the steering wheel with both hands, her head down, her forehead against the back of them. Jack gave the car a quick once over and then he just opened the door. June didn't move.

"Jesus, mom." He said. And after a moment she put the car in park and quietly slipped over on the front seat. Jack grimaced and climbed in, shutting the door behind him and checking the gas. He looked over at his mom but she hadn't moved, she just hung her head even lower, some of her loose black hair falling around her face. She was dabbing at her nose with her sleeve.

"At least buckle up." He said calmly. And when she did so, he just drove his mother home.


	32. Intervention

**Intervention**

When they came through the back door, Jack held the door for his mom and then locked things up. June, getting her composure back a little in the last twenty minutes, stepped into the dining area and slowly sank down into one of the chairs without a word. Jack sighed a little as he hung up his jacket and stepped past her, June turning away from him to put one hand on the table and stare at the drawn curtains of the patio door. He clicked on the kitchen light now and closed up the blinds as he poured her a glass of water.

Coming back over to the table, he set it down for her and she took it and then it was back to the hallway leading to the bedrooms so he could check the thermostat.

"It's chilly in here." He said, turning it up a little. June said nothing.

Running out of things to check, Jack stopped at the end of the counter separating kitchen and dining space and he just leaned against it, waiting. June brushed some hair out of her face and cleared her throat.

"Can you get me some tissues?" she said as she took a sip of water. Jack was back a moment later, seeing for the first time how the cupboards had been emptied and there were stacks of bowls and dishes all over the place.

"Have you bee cleaning?" He asked as June took the tissue box. Pulling out a few tissues, she didn't answer. She just wiped at her face, feeling an absolute mess.

Then she cleared her throat again. He leaned on his hand again.

"Look, mom..." He paused. "About Miko..."

"Jack, stop." It was her turn to hold up a hand. She looked up, wiping her nose and steeling herself enough to look him in the eye. Now that she was home, she felt a little stronger. A little more 'mom'. "That's none of my business. Ok? That's not why I'm upset."

He didn't know what to say to that so he just looked down at his boots. June took another tissue and looked back at her son.

"I think it's time we had another talk. A real talk." she said. He knew what she meant.

"We've talked." he replied.

"Not enough."

"Why does it have to be more?" He looked up at her. In the two months since that night with Airachnid, and the times he had stopped in, there had been _some _talk. But it was guarded, tentative, details only. Clinical. June frowned a little, knowing that Jack knew the kind of talk she meant. He wasn't stupid.

"You're avoiding."

"Don't start." he replied.

"We've got to talk this out. Not about tonight. The other stuff. I think you should hear me out. From the beginning." She implored with him a little. He straightened up and got his own glass from the group of cups on the counter. A large, yellow, kids glass with a bubble pattern meant for summer koolaid. It looked silly under the circumstances but she said nothing. He filled it at the sink and drank half of it.

He turned and came back over to the counter. "I don't want to."

"Look, this is no time to keep playing kick the dog. If I can feel like a complete _fool _for what just happened, then at least you can act like the man I am trying to see you as and hear me out."

"Don't make this about me."

"Jack, who else is it about!? It's about us! We've_ got _to clear the air."

"What good what it do?" he snapped.

June pursed her lips and fought down the threat of more tears. Before she could speak Jack seemed to realize the childish glass he was holding and he reached out and set it down on the microwave with a frown.

"It may not feel good, but you either hear me out or keep hating me." she said quietly.

"I don't hate you." he sighed.

"You don't trust me anymore, then."

"Oh come on, knock it off." He scoffed.

"Will you sit down?" She insisted. He had turned his butt towards the counter and leaned against it with both arms crossed. He didn't sit down...but he didn't leave either. He just stared at the calender above the microwave pushed up against the wall that separated the kitchen from the living room. June took that as all the encouragement she was going to get, so she started talking.

The long car ride had helped. So had the tears.

Ironically, once Jack was in the car she was able to compose herself some more. Mom-mode indeed. And actually, in some horrible fashion, in a round about way interrupting Miko and Jack at love play had then helped. It helped her shut down her sudden emotions and spare him any more upset. Help her remember what she should say. And what Jack needed to here as a grown man. All the better now that they were at home. She had to salvage something out of this horrible evening and she was determined not to let him leave yet.

So she spoke of herself, as a mother, and then as a woman. She told of the night she had made a move with Optimus and what had resulted after. She offered no excuses, only reasons, and the stark honesty of it felt good.

As expected, he didn't react over much about Optimus. That was nothing knew. But the point was how she made no bones about her loneliness and what it was like for her during those times. Not always something a child can easily understand in a parent. Even a grown one. But he needed to see _her_ as sexual being, given the circumstances. And not the one that had teased him in revealing clothes for her own little thrill. She left the naughty Darby secret of it.

And she pulled no punches when she reached the point in the story about Airachnid in Arcee's body, even daring to reference his own sex drive with Arcee and how Airachnid had capitalized on that in them _both_. Corrupted the almost addictive quality of being sexually active with a Transformer. That heady, bio-chemical response that sent a human into such a heightened state of arousal. It was bound to be potent. And she covered all the physiology they both had guessed at and how Airachnid used it against them. She said it all.

It took one whole hour and some of her self loathing eased in light of how she was facing up to her ways with her son. It might have taken longer, but Jack just stood there without saying a word and that was more ominous than anything else. But she soldiered on.

For most_ importantly_, she made no excuses for having had sex with Arcee. She knew that this was the cusp of the void between them. Her secret bisexual trysts with his alien girlfriend. So many times. And even though she almost choked on the words, she didn't spare him the details. Not the _dirty_ details, but how it had taken place behind his back and why.

Then she was finished. He knew the rest.

Unsurprisingly, Jack made excuses _for_ her, his loyalty given to his mother even in the face of her owning up to her own betrayal.

"Look, you just laid it all out." He said. "You were coming down off being with Optimus and acting out a little. Ok? I get that."

"Jack..."

"Airachnid chose her time. Perfectly. She put it all together and seduced you. Ok?"

"It's not that easy."

"Four years ago I would have been shocked. Screwing some guy in the neighborhood!" He spat with a shake of his head. Some of his anger slipped. "But...but that shows how it was all working on your system and she got to you right at the _best time_." There he was, reeling it back in, rationalizing.

"Maybe I'm just a slut." she challenged.

"Don't say that crap." he turned his head away from her, his arms still crossed. He wasn't leaning against the counter anymore, he was standing up at some point in the last hour. And it looked like he was beginning to steam a little.

"Jack, you got to stop reasoning it out."

"Oh, you can, but I can't?"

"What I mean is you have got to stop avoiding this. Avoiding me and how you feel."

He grit his teeth and turned to glare at her a little and June's stomach tickled her insides. "Why can't you leave it alone?" he said though his teeth. "You _told _me you felt it was wrong. You_ told_ me you couldn't help yourself. You resisted. Even when she seduced you."

"I know all that!" She stood up.

"Then what's the problem!?" he shouted. "What's done is done." and he waved her off.

"Your head knows that's true, but your heart doesn't." June stepped toward him but he backed up a step into the kitchen.

"My God, Jack..." she implored her son. "This is eating me up. You've got to get_ mad _at me. You've got to say the words before they ruin us!"

His hands balled into fists and the blood soared into his face. He was suddenly, absolutely, _furious_.

"And...and you don't think you've done a good enough job at that...you...you fuckin' _bitch!_" And in his fury he turned away, took up an entire stack of bowls, and without a word smashed them down onto the kitchen floor.

Away from her and himself. Into the kitchen, towards the sink and the fridge, where the pieces washed up into the corner of the floor like a glass wave. She jumped back a little, both hands coming up over her mouth and her eyes wide. Jack didn't look back at her...and he didn't hesitate either. He just reached out and did the same thing with a thick stack of plates. The sound was tremendous under the tension of the moment and the quiet of the evening and white chips of ceramic flew up and around the kitchen, landing on the counter and rattling into the sink.

If you thought about such a reaction, twice would have cleared the air. Three times might have seemed like going to far. But there were times that called for _more_. Things that warranted smashing them _all_. Through such an act, the person looking on could then understand how deep the upset ran and how it encompassed everything _beyond_ just broken dishes. In other words, without needing to be explained, it seemed fitting. It spoke for Jack. And June Darby wisely didn't stop her son.

Without a sound, Jack took hold of and smashed three more separate stacks of dishes on the floor. With both hands. His face twisted by his fury as he let out his pent up rage. This wasn't Jack the boy having a fit. It was Jack the man and he was furious.

After the fifth one, he turned around, his boots crunching the glass as he leaned over the empty counter, breathing hard. A small snarl and a final backward swipe of his hand sent most of the glasses to their doom behind him. But then she knew he was done, his anger spent, and he stood there, catching his breath and staring at the counter top. She looked down at her own feet where a few pieces had skipped back as far as her tennis shoes. Then she looked up at him and lowered her hands.

"Say the words." She said in a level voice. Jack didn't look up, but his voice was wretched.

"Why'd you do it? Why did you _do_ it, mom? Why'd you do that to me?" He knew why, but she was right, the emotions needed the words to be said. Even when one knew better.

"I'm sorry, honey." Was all she could reply, slowly sitting back down in her chair. Five long minutes passed in the Darby household. Jack sniffed and wiped his own nose with his sleeve. Then he straightened up.

"It's as much my fault as anyone's." He said, his voice raw. June didn't try to argue. The lines of responsibility over-lapped to much to try and Jack was his mother's son. He would blame himself more than his fair share. She supposed he was thinking of his sex life with Arcee and how it had attracted the attention of Airachnid.

He looked over his shoulder at the sea of smashed dishes and he cringed a little, turning back around with his hands flat on the counter.

"Where do we go from here, Jack?" She asked. He rubbed a hand over his face. Now that everything was pretty much laid out between them, he _did _feel calmer. He crunched his way out of the kitchen and came around the table to plop down into his own chair. Across the table from his mother.

"I don't know." He said as June turned towards him. "Go buy some new dishes I guess."

At fist she thought that maybe he was making a joke, but his face told her otherwise. He was just addressing the immediate concern and still looked quite miserable. Grim.

Well that made sense. It would be some time, this healing between the two of them, and she felt content. She shoved her hands down between her knees and rocked a little in her chair. They both could hear the clock in the kitchen ticking away.

"Do you think someone is going to call the cops?" He asked after a moment. June looked at him and smiled softly.

"No."

"Not us, right? Not the good ol' dependable Darbys." He smirked and June looked down at the table, embarrassed.

Jack regretted saying that. His anger left a bitter taste in his mouth and he knew he didn't have it in him to keep hurting his mother.

"I'm sorry I said that. I'm sorry I called you that name."

"It's ok." June looked up again and sniffed a tiny bit.

"Are you done hating yourself?" He asked, but his mother didn't reply. Backing off a little, Jack decided on something of his own.

"Is there anything _you_ need to say?"

"What do you mean?" June frowned, but out of confusion.

"I'm not gonna sit here and let you take all this on yourself anymore. Not now." he said.

June shrugged a little and looked away.

"Aren't you at least a little hurt I've been staying away?" He raised a hand, indicating the house.

"Let's not go there. I understand all that." she replied.

"If you made me say the words that needed saying, then you've got to have something you want to say too, right?"

"Jack..."

"Right? Now would be the time to say them." He sniffed. June said nothing, she just hugged herself now and look around the room with a shake of her head.

"I'm sorry I called you that name." he said again.

"It's all right."

"Well?" he prompted.

"Well what? I didn't need to get this off my chest like you did." She looked him back in the eye.

"Come _on_."

"I'm fine, Jack."

"Really?"

June stared at him for a moment. For a long moment. He stared back at her.

"Do you want to know about Miko then? And what that means with Arcee?" he volunteered.

"I said that's none of my business." she straightened up, making a small cutting motion with her hand.

"Well, there's got to be _something_ you want to say." he raised up a hand and let it drop. June looked up at her son and was surprised to find there _was_ something. A few lingering worries. Doubts. Questions. Fears. And yes, a little anger. So she decided to flush out all the corners and finish the job.

"Do you blame me for Arcee being hurt?" she said abruptly.

"That's on Airachnid." he answered immediately.

"Do you think I've acted trashy?" She meant the guy in the neighborhood she had had sex with. Airachnid too...but it could also touch on the dirty Darby secret.

"No." Jack replied evenly, staring her in the eye.

"Does anyone know about the...relationships?" She meant the ones with Prime and Arcee getting out.

"No."

"But they must have had questions." June brushed her hair back out of one eye.

"You mean is there any fall-out from that night? Well, the Autobots think it was all a plot of Airachnid's."

"Even Optimus?"

"Yes." Jack replied. "They believe that she was foiled before she could cause any more trouble."

"But Ratchet examined Arcee." she winced.

Jack was surprised his mother had been keeping track of some details and worries herself.

"As for the rest of it, Ratchet found out about Arcee's body but we talked and he's taking it as patient confidentiality."

"Hmm. Yeah, I can see that." June nodded her head out of medical professionalism and scratched her lip.

"Everything else thankfully stayed the same. As for the..._nature_ of our relationships with Prime and Arcee, no one knows about that except the ones that were involved."

"Airachnid knows." she nodded her head a little.

"And we're all still working on that, right?" Jack was treading carefully.

_You have no idea, mom. No idea on what_ I'm_ working on to shut her up forever. And you're not _going_ to know if I can help it. Not until it's finished._

"Not even Miko? Even when you two are..." June's eyebrows went up.

"I thought you didn't want to hear about that."

"Okay, okay." she replied. But her eyes wanted to say more.

"What?" He asked.

"Jack, all things aside, sitting over here as you mother and also the person involved in this nightmarish intrigue with you, I can't help but see trouble coming of that when Arcee wakes up."

"That's a helluva thing to say."

"Come on, be fair." she stopped him. "I'll own up to what I have to with Optimus and Arcee and we'll worry about that later, but don't you think being involved with Miko is...complicating it? And Arcee will have her own questions." She actually dared say it. But Jack wasn't angry at her for it. It's not like he wasn't constantly weighing everything in his mind either.

He rubbed a hand down his face, not blaming his mother for having to say the obvious, even given how she herself had acted. Maybe that's why she was saying it in the first place.

"Everything's a big _if_ now, anyway. If, if, if. Everything. I don't want to talk about Miko anymore."

"All right." June let it be.

Jack reflected on Miko for a moment. It was just more of the tangled web that it was to be Jack Darby these days. Miko didn't know about the sexual relationship with Arcee, but she knew about the hunt for Airachnid, going along with it out of sheer faith. His mom on the other hand knew about the sexual relationships, but had no idea about his plans for Airachnid. And he wasn't going to tell her lest she try and stop him. Then there was everyone else.

It all just made his head hurt. Again he felt like he had to write in down like huge chart on a piece of poster board. How did it fall to him to be a guardian of everyone's state of being?

"It's complicated." He sighed.

June reflected a little now herself, then after a moment she spoke.

"You left me in this house. Alone. For two months." She said at the last, referring to Airachnid again. Jack said nothing. "I know you checked on me. I know you had your reasons. And I remember what you said about keeping it all under wraps."

Jack just nodded once.

"But...did you realize...well of course you had to. But..." She struggled on. "Did it occur to you that Airachnid is still unaccounted for? That I could have been in danger? Could still _be_ in danger? _Great _danger?"

Here is where he could have argued, could have stated his reasons, could have declared that she herself had decided to stay at home all this time. But this was a special moment while it lasted. A moment where one spoke, and the other listened. No back and forth. No interrupting. Raw facts, no excuses, no weaving any defense.

And in this moment, Jack realized his reasons for pulling his mother's own concerns into the spotlight were two-fold. He didn't know if it was to cover his intentions over Airachnid or if he was being a little sadistic. But he _did _know he wanted his mom off the scent, now that they had cleared the air. He may have forgiven her, but in an ironic twist, he was so committed to his other course of action and all the secrets that were tied up there-in, that now his mother, _one_ of those secrets, needed to be contained less she get in the way. After all, she had showed up at the base, right? If she was determined to face the music and come back to team Prime, that could only spell trouble for him.

That decided him.

Again he felt a little sick for how he was going to manipulate things. But he didn't ask to be the emotional guardian of team Prime. Containing his mother, now that she was no longer going to be shelved, was just one more problem. And one more guilt.

And how would he go about doing that? To him it was simple. And perfect. And he could kill two birds with one stone.

"Yes. I know. I thought about it. " He answered and June looked a little crestfallen. Even mortified. Had he been _that _angry with her? He held up a hand. "But mom...you never _were_ in any real danger."

"What do you mean?" she rubbed her hands together, feeling the chill.

Jack cleared his throat.

"Ever since that night...Optimus has been personally watching over you."


	33. Revelations

**Revelations**

"What do you _mean_ he's been watching over me?" June frowned. "When?"

Jack stared at his mother for a moment, as if he wasn't sure he should say.

"During the day." He admitted. "It's either him, Bumblebee or Bulkhead. But at night, when he's secured the fort, it's all Optimus."

"Watching me how? By remote?" She was a tiny bit incredulous.

"No. They're actually out there." Jack inclined his head towards the street. "You haven't been out of sight of an Autobot since that first night for more than five seconds. Even at work."

"You knew about this?" She blinked, resisting the urge to sit up and look out the window even though all the curtains were drawn and it was dark outside.

"Of course."

"But I haven't seen anyof them." she protested mildly, brushing a hair out of her face instead.

"You're not a super spy, mom." Jack smiled a little, a hint of the old humor on his face. "And the Autobots are old hands at blending in."

"I...I don't know what to say." She said, sitting back and crossing her arms, shaking her head and looking down. Something caught her eye on the table and she looked over. A tiny piece of ceramic lay off to the side where it had landed from the kitchen.

"What's to say? Did you expect any less of them?" Jack went on. She looked up and uncrossed her arms.

"No, but it was like...it was like..."

"No one cared? _Geez_, mom." Jack frowned. "Did you think I just wrote you off?" He made a disgusted gesture with his hand.

June didn't want to answer. He _had _put her at a distance, yes, but that had been necessary. She understood the need. So she kept quiet. His few answers just now had clarified much for her and she didn't want to turn this around and make it about her, even though he was encouraging her to take her turn and speak up.

Still, she wish she had known about being guarded. It just never occurred to her. And in that, she wished she could have been kept more up to date about things. She couldn't help but feel a_ little_ resentful. Maybe then she wouldn't have walked in on Jack and Miko tonight and made a complete fool of herself. But she would deal with that embarrassment later.

Because now she remembered that she had went out to the base to talk with Optimus also. Maybe. Exactly about what she didn't know. Perhaps just to be polite and say hi. And then everything blew up with Jack. But that proved to be a blessing because now they had cleared the air. Still, it was a surprise to hear Optimus was watching over her. She wondered how that would have affected her if she had known all this time. But these last two months she had been absorbed with guilt and shame and with her son, so perhaps it was a good thing she _didn't_ know. She wasn't sure what impact that would have had on her thinking. Would it have made everything better? Or worse?

And what was she feeling now?

She was overlooking something. Something that suddenly made a hollow spot in June's chest and she couldn't quite pin it down. Of all the things she had come clean about tonight, Jack was bothered the least by the details of her and Optimus. He already knew about the sex and what he didn't know he had barely reacted to, saying just a few words about how that explained some of her behavior. And that's when June Darby realized that _she _was the one still bothered by all of it. And just how much so.

Jack had been sitting there, waiting for her to react, when he decided to expand on what he had been saying.

"Optimus never suspected a thing. And he and I worked out how to make sure you were safe that first night you went home."

June just stuffed her hands back between her knees, lifting her feet up on to the chair's spanner like she usually did, letting him go on.

"And I guess that's all he needed to know. That you were safe. When he was back at the base, he and Fowler kept everyone else busy looking for Airachnid. And that's all that it's been lately." he sighed. "I guess...it hasn't been easy keeping it straight and all, and I'm sorry I haven't been home more, but maybe it was for the best. No questions and all that." he sat back a little, looking tired.

June stared at her son, her eyes widening a bit as she realized what he was saying. Suddenly she reached over the table and took hold of Jack's arm. He looked up at her.

"Honey, I just realized how you've been stuck with keeping all this to yourself out at the base. All this time. I've been so worried that you hated me, that I guess I was being a little selfish and not thinking about anything else."

"I don't hate you mom." He gave her a lopsided little smile. "Please don't say that anymore." he reached over and patted her hand with his own. June smiled, fighting back tears that he didn't need to see right now, and she took her hand back along with a big, deep breath to calm herself. She let it out slowly.

"It still such a delicate balance, isn't it." She said. It wasn't a question.

"To say the least." he answered, watching her.

"Where do we go from here, then?" She asked him again.

"What do you mean to do about Optimus?" He asked by way of reply.

June was a little off balance. She had expected Jack to be a little more angry and resentful. Something that would take a while to drain out of his system. But strangely, he just sat down and steered the talk towards her and Optimus. Why? Why was he so understanding?

"I...I don't know yet. There's still the matter of Arcee. Airachnid. And now Miko." She dared admit.

"You remember how Airachnid bragged that she had Arcee locked away in her own mind?" he asked suddenly.

June winced a little. "Yes."

"She regretted that Arcee didn't have a clue about what was happening. Remember how she said that? Well, we should have talked about this months ago, but the fact is only you and I know. So as far as Arcee goes, I'm going to see that it stays that way."

"You mean...if I talk with Optimus now?"

"Yes. I think we can spare them both the part about Airachnid and her sex games."

"But Jack, _Airachnid _knows." she said.

"She'll be dealt with." he answered firmly.

"Jack, it's not lost on me how she can use that against us. If she's alive she can just..."

"Yeah sure, she can do all kinds of nasty shit. Shout it from the _rooftops_." Jack cut her off. He sat up and turned a little, hooking one arm over the back of his chair. "But everyday that ticks by is in our favor. Meaning if she was even still alive to do so, she surely would have done _something_ by now." he gestured with his other hand.

He kept himself neutral, his guts tickling him. It was almost on the tip of his tongue to blurt out what was going on behind locked doors. How he had brought in Rafael and Miko and kept it from the Autobots. The new idea about what might bring Arcee back. The location of Airachnids last lair. And of course, his new found feelings for Miko mixed with the all to real dread that Arcee might _never _wake up.

Hope and fear mixed well under the best of circumstances. Like a marriage proposal. It's a nightmare when they don't. Like watching someone in a coma. He needed to confide in his mother all of sudden, but this was the _new_ Jack Darby. He kept his mouth shut.

"Everyone keeps saying that." June said, meaning Airachnid.

"Well, it's true enough. We're still here, right?"

June sighed and reached up to rub her temples. Jack felt strangely vindicated.

_ How does it feel, mom? How does it feels to preserve your dignity while doing the same for everyone else? Doesn't feel to good, does it? This carrying it all around like a big bag of secrets and half truths. I feel like a politician with a conscience. Airachnid's the only loose end and when I tie her off maybe I can _finally_ rest. But you'll help me keep these secrets now, because I have to tie you down too. Just a little longer and then it's finished. _

"But that doesn't mean you can't at least talk with Optimus." He went on.

"Why would you _want _me to?" June asked him unexpectedly in return, lowering her hands, and Jack was taken back for a second.

"Well...well, why not?" He frowned. "Isn't that the blessing you would need from a son? Given all the circumstances, what's stopping you?"

"_Optimus_ is stopping me." She gave him a serious look.

"Well, that's between you and him but isn't that what we're after here? Move on? Put all this shit behind us? Pick ourselves up and start over? However you go to him isn't my business but there's no reason to stay away any more."

A bit of June's indignity slipped free. "Try telling _him_ that." she sniffed. "Anyway, Jack I don't know. I came out to the base to smooth things over and just make a show of being cordial. Polite. Like I was doing before. But with what _I _know, with what _you _know..."

"We got along just fine as a team before we joined the Autobots, mom. The Darbys. We can keep secrets." He said.

June's eyes changed a little. Her dark blue color deepened even more and she grew still. He meant the dirty Darby secret. Seems like he was more raw than he was letting on and twenty years old or not, he was still bitter enough to take a few cheap shots. Like a teenager would.

"That's mean." she said quietly and a half embarrassed, half disgusted look crossed over his face. He took his one arm off the chair and straightened back around, clearing his throat.

"Sorry."

June looked away after a moment and they both sat quietly. They could still hear the kitchen clock ticking away. June was running things through her mind.

Was it really possible to keep this from Optimus? From them all? And be able to start over? That's what Jack was saying, wasn't it? But history proved that such a secret was bound to come out one day. And it _will _come out one day. But it wouldn't it be better to be prepared? So that when it does, both I and my son can explain it on our own terms?

She looked back at Jack, who had reached over and was now idly playing with the chip of broken ceramic.

_ You make sense Jack, but you have Miko to worry about. Whether you know it or not. And speaking as a woman, and as a mother, there'll be fireworks there if and when Arcee does wake up. Miko's to sharp. She'll guess sooner or later that Arcee is competition in more ways than one. Are you keeping everything at bay with Miko and just steering me away? Are you setting yourself up for an even greater fall? What are you hiding? You're to rational. A mother knows._

She shook that off for the moment.

"You know it will come out one day." she said evenly.

"Maybe. If we let it." he didn't look at her, rolling and tapping the chip on the table's surface with his fingers.

"Jack, what if we just told them now?" she ventured.

It was his turn for his eyes to go wide and he nearly spat as his head snapped up to look at her.

"What!? What for?"

"It's not right to keep half the truth from them."she protested.

"You sound like Rafael." He scowled, leaning forward. "What have we_ just_ been talking about? Weren't you listening? After I've kept it all under wraps for two months, go and tell them everything? What good would it do? When Arcee wakes up I_ don't _intend to tell _her _every little thing. That's just the way it's gonna _be_!"

"And about Arcee and myself?"

"Christ, I thought you would agree that's a given." He shook his head at that imagined disaster. "Why do that to her? Why do that to yourself? Why ruin us _all_? Am I the only one who can keep secrets?" he slumped back a little, lifting up and dropping both his hands onto the table with a disgusted scoff.

"_Jesus_, mom." he finished.

"All right, all right. I get it. It was just a thought." She waved down his rising upset. She had just got him back to a place where she needed him to be so she could heal things between them. She didn't want to risk driving him away again.

"You know, I once told Arcee if Airachnid managed to push us apart, she would happily consider that a win. Maybe even more so. She doesn't have to kill to be satisfied. Misery and heartache are much more tasty."

June had cupped her hands in front of her mouth and set her elbows on the table.

"I never thought of that." She said after a moment's thought. Jack had to resist shaking his head in disgust.

"That's why she wanted to destroy us from the inside out." he added instead.

"I won't say anything about it. When the time comes, what you say, goes." June said quietly. Inside, she felt a little stronger. All this time it had been her reflex to blame herself and the shame was something awful, but this back and forth with Jack had given her back some of her dignity. Reminded her that she too was a victim. She had done this tonight for her son and he had forgiven her for what he needed to, but for now the rest of it could keep. Wait for the day when she would explain. It was up to her if she kept crucifying herself about it...or set it behind her.

Jack could see it in her now and inside he sagged with relief.

Boy, did his mother_ ever _prove just now why he had to lock her down and keep her out of the way too.

_Good grief, this juggling act with chainsaws! It's like I'm watching lake ice crack around me. Everything has just got to hold together for a little while longer. But I'm glad tonight happened. Maybe now mom will be totally absorbed with Optimus and he with her. That way I kill two birds with one stone. Arcee stays safely innocent, Ratchet and Rafael keep my confidence, and Miko helps me hunt down Airachnid. Hold together. Just. A little. Longer. _

After another moment of thought, June took another deep breath and let it out. looking around the room.

Suddenly, just like that, there wasn't to much more to say. Although she didn't say it, Jack could see that his mother's thoughts were mostly on Optimus, but she still had to make sure he was okay. Was he? He wasn't exactly sure. It had turned into one helluva day, starting out with such good news, and wrapping up with all this. Mostly, he just felt tired.

"Well, then. Are you going back to the base tonight?" She asked looking over at him.

"I said I would be back. So...I should get going after I clean up." Decided, he pushed his chair back, making ready to stand up. Only now did it sink in what his lashing out had caused when he could see around the cupboard corner the layer of broken ceramics and glass in the kitchen. It had happened for what reasons it had, but now he began to feel a little chagrined. Maybe this was where healing began. He had his secrets, but he could allow for this night with his mother. He _did _feel better about that.

Seeing his look, June smiled at her son."We'll _both_ clean up." She said, not pushing the issue, but of course a part of her wished he would stay. Strangely, with the slate clean, she felt lighter, but it wasn't lost on her that Jack had deliberately steered her thoughts towards Optimus. And because of that, she was still appraising _him_.

_What will you do about Miko, Jack?_

Jack stood up and went over to the broom closet near the back garage door. He opened the door and started pulling out some bags and boxes along with the broom and dustpan.

"I'll go in to town tomorrow and buy some new dishes." he said, turning back. "I hope none of those were valuable."

_What will you do about Optimus, mom?_

"You're Grandmothers plate is in the living room cabinet." She gave him a smirk and pushed herself away from the table now too.

He watched his mother as she got up. Tall, slender, delicate and sexy. Her hair was like dark gossamer waves and her face was five years younger than it was a couple of hours ago. No more tears, no more leaden soul. All it took was him getting it off his chest. So why didn't he feel that much better?

_Because I turned around and aimed her at her ex-boyfriend. She was vulnerable and I took the shot. Shifting pieces on my Autobot chessboard and never missing a trick._

As June pushed the chairs in around the table, she didn't see Jack's grimace. He walked behind her and appraised his mess, looking into the kitchen and down at the broom in his hands.

_More guilt then, huh? I suppose so. And it can just get in line too. _

There was still a lot unsaid and a lot that didn't need saying, but now at least there was a peace. June stepped up next to him and turned to smiled up at him.

"After tonight, let's hope we don't have to break any more dishes." she said. He could appreciate the double meaning of her words.

"Yeah. Let's make sure of that." He smiled back. And then he started to sweep.

**ooo**

Later that evening, after bridging back and some quick talking to make sure all was well, Jack left Ratchet and Optimus in Central and walked back to his room quietly. He was getting good at diverting disasters. He stopped at Arcee's great rejuvenation tube and in a fit of melodrama, not caring that they could see, he just simply kissed the glass and walked on.

He was tired. Drained. And luckily Rafael would sleep away the night and be ready for him in the morning. When he got to his room, he opened his door and slipped inside. Miko lay curled up in his bed, fast asleep next to the one small lamp light. That was probably for the best. It wouldn't hurt for her to catch up. They had all been running on high lately and now, in more ways than one, tomorrow was a new day. Maybe the juggling of chainsaws wouldn't be as difficult come the morning. Miko looked beautiful over where she lay, breathing softly and tucked in under his blanket.

Jack Darby smiled, and quietly pulled the door shut behind him. This time, he locked it.

Hours later, shortly before the waking dawn, she would awake to find him next to her and her soft lips would find his.

And this time nothing interfered.

**ooo**

Optimus turned away from the doorway that led back to the human quarters. He had watched Jack Darby depart and listened well to what he had to say. And he pondered over deeper matters in his mind for a moment. Then, as per his routine, he compared notes with Ratchet for another ten minutes, offered a few words of advice that served more or less as orders, and then he called up the landbridge. Destination : One mile outside of Jasper. He would drive the rest of the way in

He leaned over to the com-link and pressed a button.

"Bulkhead here."

"Bulkhead? Remain on station until my arrival. I shall relieve you in twenty minutes."

"Okay, Optimus."

**ooo**

June Darby sat quietly at her dining room table, sipping coffee from a plastic gas station mug that was one of the only serviceable cups left in the house. She didn't bemoan the dishes she had lost. She was playing now with the tiny chip that still lay on the dining table. It was from one of her favorite coffee mugs and it had broken evenly. There was one perfect, tiny little yellow rose on it. Six years later, appreciating her own sense of irony, she would smooth it down, round it off, and turn it into a necklace to drape it around the neck of her first grandchild.

She set it down and took another sip of her coffee. In the dark quiet of the night, she pondered three things.

What did Jack mean at her sounding like Rafael when it came to the truth? And what did he mean by being the only one who could keep secrets? Were there more? It was just a scrap of a thing, as they talked, but for some reason they stuck out in her mind. Coupled with how smoothly he had got over his anger and diverted her attention. What did all that mean? She sighed.

And lastly, she thought of Optimus. It was full dark now, and if there was anything to what Jack had said, Prime was nearby. It made her shiver.

Later, having dressed for bed in a simple nightie that reached just to her knees, June lay on her bed and stared at the TV without seeing what she was watching. She wondered what was stopping her now from going to Optimus. And what was the thing that still fluttered in her chest when she thought about him out there?

She turned, staring at the curtain of her bedroom window for a moment. Then she clicked off the light, shut off the TV, and tucked her legs under the covers. She fluffed her pillow and made to settle down, knowing she would lay there and start out at the dark of her room long before she fell asleep.

Optimus Prime. Watching over her all night long. Always the one to put himself last, he would stay there until dawn and then...

June sat up a little. That was it. That had to be the hollow feeling she felt. All these weeks she had been so focused on her and Jack, that she hadn't stopped to think what it must have been like for Optimus. But she could _now _and what she felt was _guilt_. The guilt of taking him for granted. The guilt of neglect.

Optimus had been tortured by the dangers of their relationship and so things had ended. But they _hadn't_. They hadn't ended for him. They never would. Jack had said that all Optimus need to know was that she was safe. But he didn't know Optimus like she did. He would be ten times as protective and even more concerned. But over all he would he would feel guilt. Guilt for what had happened. He had to stand by and see Airachnid almost succeed in murdering her and Jack and how it led to a member of his team being seriously injured. And there had been nothing he could do about it. But Optimus being Optimus, he would only blame himself. As June sat there, blinking away her surprise, she felt nauseous.

_He_ gets no relief. _He_ has no one to blame. No one to get angry at. He never questioned anyone but himself. He never said anything and he never _would _say anything...but he would go right on being Prime. A great being of destiny, conscience...and pain.

June put a hand to her forehead.

_ Oh June, you selfish little baby!_

Some soul mate she was! He was sitting out there right now, undoubtedly deep in reproach and silently miserable all the more so because every terrible outcome he had imagined was vindicated. And what would he continue to do about it? Nothing. Suffer it all alone, the things he couldn't possibly have done anything about.

_And I'm in here. Fussed over like a baby. Well, we'll just see about that. I've settled things between Jack and myself now and Arcee will wake up one day and everything will be back to normal. So doesn't that mean there's a chance? He will stop you, June. Oh yes. Maybe. But are you going to let him this time?_

She turned to stare at the curtain again. Suddenly she rolled on to her knees and walked over her mattress to fling back the small curtains of her bedroom window. She didn't know quite what to expect, she just needed to look outside for a second.

The moon was three quarters full. The month was ticking away. It was cold outside.

But then, as she peered past the shadowed homes and the occasional yard light, June suddenly straightened up, staring down the street. She couldn't be sure, but she didn't care either way, and before she could think about it, she was down off the bed, snatching up just a light robe and heading for the back garage door. She didn't even stop for shoes.

_You might not be able to do anything about the suffering, but I can! And this time you're going to listen!_

Her heart was beating in her chest. She felt alive again. The back door slammed shut behind her and, barefoot, June Darby headed out into the cold, clear night.

The End.


	34. A few more words

**A few words...**

And so that's it! Part II has wrapped up and Part III will continue right here in the next chapter. I really do appreciate all the reviews and how people are enjoying this story. Again, I read every single one of them and the feedback acts like a compass sometimes, keeping things on track for what comes next.

Now we look ahead to Jack and Miko and his quest to finally hunt down and kill Airachnid, while dealing with the desperate hope to find a way to bring Arcee back. It's a complicated web he's controlling, even with his mother, and will he finally find justice?

Will Optimus and June be back together? Will Prime let that happen? And if they do, what will happen then? Miko, Rafael and even old Fowler, they'll all be deep in it and we'll see what happens next! :D

Please forgive me this shameless self-promotion, but I would love it if people picked up on these other stories:

**The Legacy of Jack Darby**

**The Legacy of Jack Darby : Arcee**

**Bio-Terror Prime**

Plus:

**The Thirteenth Warrior**

**Loyalty's Reward**

These are other stories I have been hoping to bring together and the only way they will be finished is if people enjoy them. The Bio-Terror Prime series is one I am particularly pleased with how it is turning out, and would like more people to read it as they see fit.

And lastly, just in time for the holiday, a new comedy.

**Autobot G1 Retirement Home : The 4th of July**

After all that, thanks for reading! Part III coming up! Stay Tuned! - Prander


	35. Winds of Change

**PART III**

**Winds of Change**

Optimus Prime sat quietly on the street, the neighborhood about him calm and quiet in the night. He could envy these humans their peace and quiet. Not that they weren't plenty war-like across their world, but the good civilians that worked hard and loved their families...they were the ones he envied. Because he understood the depths of such simple desires and he wished his own life could be so richly rewarding through such humble means. For these people, sleeping away one day to arise for another, didn't face such grave consequences as himself. They didn't face an intergalactic war. One Optimus had been fighting for longer than human history.

His enemies were not a burglar in the night, nor a criminal with a gun. His enemies were of the kind that would set the galaxy aflame in their quest for power and they would burn Earth without a second thought. What was one planet to an entire galaxy? A precious jewel. The beauty of each one lost forever if it's light was extinguished, never to be replaced.

The list of extinguished lights were long. The list of the dead much longer.

Optimus vowed not to let that happen to Earth. Privately, he hoped one day for his Autobots to live just as simply as these humans, rather than fight on in a war that had taken so much already. Some of them, like Wheeljack, had adapted well to being a fighter and were defined by war. Others, like Smokescreen, dreamed of heroes and were defined by the approval of fighters like Wheeljack. Then there were the more gentle sparks among them. Bulkhead, who secretly hated fighting and kept a child-like diary of monuments he one day hoped to build on Cybertron. Ratchet, who lived for science and the well being of others. And lovely Arcee, who kept up a tough exterior, but was a vibrant and courageous being that loved exploration and their home planet of Cybertron with a deep passion.

It was Arcee who pained Optimus the most. The one Autobot among them who was afraid to love, but was unable to help herself. And tragically she had been hounded throughout her life by a villain that was the anti-thesis of love and now she lay deep in slumber in her energon bath, perhaps never to stir again. He sighed, his thoughts wondering back to the Darbys. As they always did when he thought of Arcee. As they always did out here at night.

If Arcee was adept at keeping her feelings at bay, Optimus Prime was a master, but then there was June Darby. The mother of Jack Darby, Arcee's partner. And the most unexpected singularity to ever happen to him since learning that he was to become a Prime.

Because of that beautiful human female, these days it was all to easy to start criticizing himself. Knowing that_ he_ was the one afraid to love. And then, feeling emotionally unsettled, he would come as close as he ever could to lying to himself. He would think of June and of what had happened. And as always, he never found peace.

**ooo**

Despite the war, my warriors have managed to lead full and productive lives with our human partners. And sensing my solitude, I know they wish the same for me. They mean well, but in such a moment they forget what even they already responsibilities are paramount to the lives of others. The good of all. This is what it means to be a Prime. I _cannot _compromise my own feelings for it would make reconciling losses in this war unbearable. So I must appreciate and value all my people _and_ my charges equally. I care for them all as a leader. As a Prime.

_No. You do not. You have not. _

June Darby. She drew more out of you. Something that surprised even you with it's strength. And to your own surprise, you returned it willingly. And once that was done, once it was sent out from your spark, there was no calling it back. Because in ways you do not yet understand she stepped around your defenses and made you feel for_ yourself _by letting you feel for_ her._ And to your horror, you watched all your careful vigilance come undone, the result being what you always feared. You endangered someone, and so the good of all, through your own personal weakness. You could let others follow you of their own free will, and you could give orders to soldiers in war...but never had you set one of them aside as your own. That is something a Prime cannot do.

_But you did. _

As a Prime you know all to well that in war, sparks are extinguished. Lives are lost. But you never lost one through your own weak, foolish desires of _self_. So, fearing that, you rightly drew away from June. But it was to late. When you learned she had again been taken hostage by your enemies...the _feelings_ that had come with such knowledge. By Primus, that was one vindication you could have done without. They tortured you in a very personal way. Deeper than any you felt before. Beyond those of a leader. Youfelt powerless, angry, horrified and, in _another _way you don't understand...you felt guilt.

_ I did. I do._

You disgust yourself that you felt it was fortunate Airachnid used the mother to get at the son first. May the All-spark forgive you, if she had known about June and yourself, she could have worked a greater evil through you. But in her murder lust, she fell on Jack first. And Jack triumphed. You have never spoken to him about how he took it upon himself to act alone. Why? Was it because as a _leader_ you should have reprimanded him for taking such risks solely upon himself? Or since his mother was special to you, as an _individual_ all you could do was silently admire him and be grateful? Worst of all, you have felt insufficient ever since. She needed saving and it wasn't you who did saved her. Or kept her safe. So do you add shame to your feelings as well?

_ It is as I feared. I stay compromised._

For in June Darby the horror of loss, as with any friend or comrade, has increased a hundred fold. The whole incident with the Vehicons and later with Airachnid did _not_ recede in your mind as a near thing. A turn of fortune or something to thank the All-spark for. No. Because you began to imagine it happening again. And how that makes you feel, that's how you are compromised. You were lost the moment she spoke to you that she had feelings as well that night long ago. And In that horrible moment you let them out, she filled the void. That space between self and Prime and Prime and others. She broke you down and built you back up and from that moment on she would be special to you. Forever. And now June Darby walks in your mind and you cannot excise her.

_ Yes._

And here you sit, in the dark. Still powerless and hopeless and trying to recover your sense of purpose with extreme dedication. But unable to stop the ache. Horrified at what you have done. Horrified of the weakness. Horrified your dedication_ still _is one of feeling and _not _duty. Because while you may have pushed her away, she left behind _herself_ in a way that haunts you. And every day is an open wound. Why?

_Because I am flawed. _

You know what they would say if they knew. Your Autobots. They would be happy and encouraging. They would say it's _not _a flaw. They would welcome their leader his own amount of personal happiness.

_My people, my friends and family, you cannot ask that of me. It is the one thing I cannot do. _

So you tell yourself. Over and over. And the most wonderful and horrible truth of all is, that when you are done playing it all back in your mind, you do not _want_ to forget what you felt for June Darby. And as long as you feel that, this torture will not end.

_It would not end anyway. Even if I no longer felt for her, she feels for me. And that impacts who I am as Optimus Prime. So now both halves of me are conflicted._

So the wound stays open. She keeps the wound open...and _you_ keep the wound open

_Yes. By the light of Cybertron, yes. I do not want to forget how it felt to...feel._

**ooo**

When he could no longer lecture himself and his all to real feelings boiled up to the surface, Optimus did not act out. He just sat there. He could understand the human need to work hard and love your family, but he could not understand how to love himself. Or let himself live. And having done so he felt flawed, unable to gather himself back into his solitude. He may have sighed a few times. And he may have recalled that fateful moment when Alpha Trion announced his doom. The young clerk had been shaken. He had been afraid. He feared the loss of himself.

"I do not want to be a Prime." He had whispered.

Now he remembered that moment, if only to relive a time that he had to leave part of himself behind. When his world had changed and he became less than himself and something so much more. But had he? It was_ that _self that was awake, inside his spark, when he thought of June Darby. That young face that stared back at him when he looked within himself. And Optimus Prime felt truly lost.

He sighed again, lost in his thoughts, and then horribly he realized the lone human coming down the sidewalk in the dead of night...was June Darby herself.

**ooo**

June's bare feet padded down the sidewalk with a tiny little slap. The quick kind of step people use when caught without shoes on cement and the chill is slowly creeping in. It's not exactly unpleasant...until you become to cold of course. But June was feeling none of it. Her step was faltering, walking faster for a moment and then just as suddenly slowing down, but always her feet brought her closer and closer. Down the street, down the small incline behind her house, the cool wind blowing through her sheer night clothes.

As for her robe? Well a light robe is just that. And being just as sheer as her nightie, neither garment was meant for the outdoors. Plus it had come undone and blew about her freely as her long black hair whipped about her face. But she was thrilled to see Optimus was actually there. Where she had seen him from her bedroom window.

Yet she did shiver a little now, when she finally stopped. Was it nerves? Or was it the cold? If she had bothered to think about it, it was probably both.

Prime sat in his vehicle mode not more than twenty yards away, at the very end of the block. There was no mistaking it was him and she half expected him to start up and drive away. She stood there, her feet slightly apart and her little fists at her sides, as if she was braced to run after him if he did. But he did nothing. He sat still, deathly quiet, his cab as black as the night sky. She brushed her fine hair out of her eyes, at a loss what to do next. She swallowed nervously, her mouth a little dry.

And so they stayed apart that way, before the chill finally _did_ catch up with June, and without taking her eyes off Optimus, she made a half hearted attempt to catch the ends of her robe but finally had to settle for wrapping her arms about herself. The wind was blowing up past her long bare legs and up her back like a current of cold water. She was shivering more, it having been colder outside than she had expected.

Was she imaging things or did she get the distinct impression that the aura about Optimus had changed? She knew he was watching her, but now he seemed...uneasy. She suddenly felt a little silly.

"Miss Darby." He spoke. "It is to cold out here for you."

"Optimus." She said, coming forward, minding her step now that she was here and knowing he wouldn't just drive away. She stopped again a few feet from the corner of his grill. Her mind was racing for something to say. "What...what are you doing here?" She wanted to reach out and touch him.

Optimus said nothing at first.

"Please return home." He intoned.

June frowned, taking a moment to look around at the dark homes of the surrounding neighborhood. She looked back at him.

"No." She answered, an edge of defiance in her voice. Was he really going to let her stand out and freeze? Talking to his fender so if anyone saw her she would be that crazy lady on the corner that talked to trucks at night in her night gown?

Optimus sighed and powered up a little, his driver's side door popping its lock and gratefully June came over and climbed up into his cab.

The touch of him on her skin thrilled her and she slid into his seat and pulled the door shut. Then she took hold of the wheel, her eyes shining now and her face flushed a little from the wind. You could see the delight in her, the slow sense of relief and wonder a person feels when coming back to a place they had long pictured in their mind. Such a moment could feel a little surreal and yet pleasant, as you took in how it was actually happening. She had never expected to climb into his cab again. She felt almost giddy.

"Optimus." She sighed, softly running her hands over the wheel and fighting the urge to wrap her arms around it. "What are you doing here?" She asked again. Gently, warm heaters came up from within his seat and he raised the ambient temperature in his cab to accommodate her.

"I missed you." She couldn't keep herself from saying, feeling a million times better already. Optimus still said nothing and she could feel him watching her. She sat back a little, composing herself and smoothing her hair down.

"Optimus?"

"This is not wise I..." His voice trailed away. June looked out his window. Sitting here in his cab, her feet were full eight feet off the ground, and she felt she knew what he meant. It wasn't everyday a truck of this size sat around a neighborhood like this. For a moment she wondered how he had blended in for two months. But then with a little shake of her head, she looked back down at his dash and ran her hands around the edge of the wheel again.

"Let's go then." She grinned, settling in as if making ready to drive away. "Somewhere else." By way of reply Optimus's _did_ start up, the deep heady rumble of his power all around her, and her heart soared as he pulled away. But just as quickly, her smile faltered as it was all to obvious he was just coasting back up the street to her house.

"Optimus. No." She said, looking out at her own yard and back garage door.

"Please, June. This is not advisable. Return home."

"No." She frowned, turning back and gripping his wheel. "No, I want to stay." She sat up in his seat, prepared to argue the point.

"This is a difficult position you are putting me in June. I am here to protect you."

"I know that. Jack told me." She brushed one last hair out of her face, the soft heat in the seat chasing away her chill like warm milk.

"He should not have. The anonymity was of paramount importance to this duty."

"What, you didn't think I would look out my window some night?" She frowned, holding still where she sat. "And stop talking about me like I am some kind of _duty_."

"I am sorry." he answered quietly and grew still again. He didn't even argue the point about how they had all fooled her for months. Jack and the Autobots. She should feel resentful, but she was just so happy to be here that her frown melted away. But there was no mistaking her determination, either.

"I'm not getting out of this cab. And unless you transform and drop me back into my house like a pet hamster, I'm staying right here."

"As you wish." He said, his voice neutral. Was Optimus being clever? He knew at some point her human needs would take her back into the house.

"Well?" she clipped out.

"Yes?"

"Let's go." She rubbed her hands back and forth across his wheel. "I don't want to just sit here."

"There is no need to go anywhere else. You are safest here."

"I don't _want _to be here." She was feeling a touch petulant, remembering when she had to pin him down once before. That first night she went out to the base and how she had to corner him long enough to give her a chance.

"It would not be wise to go anywhere else. You are not even dressed." he replied.

"Wherever you go is the safest place I could be. I've missed you. I want to talk." Her words caught in her throat a little.

"That is not true...I am not...I have..." He stopped again.

"Have you missed me too?" She asked quietly.

"I have endangered you and...and compromised everything." he sounded miserable.

"Not this again. Optimus, _please_." She moaned softly, leaning forward a little.

"We discussed this before. We made our decision." He said abruptly, some real emotion bleeding into his voice. "Why have you come out here? Why do you seek to undo me?"

"How can you say that? I'm not _undoing_ you." she huffed, her knuckles whitening where she suddenly gripped the wheel.

"You understood once before. When we last talked. All the reasons. The impact. I cannot do this again." he sounded so alone.

"I knew it. I knew you were sitting out here trying to set up all the dominoes!" June clipped out.

"Dominoes?"

"It's a metaphor. Optimus, don't you see it's to late? I've been thinking about us. You can't take it back and just pretend it didn't happen." She tried to soothe him but to her surprise, he actually sounded angry. Just little bit. Disgusted would be more accurate...and not with her.

"_Yes_, June. I _do_ see it. I have seen it every moment since you first stepped into the base that night."

"Why are you fighting this so hard?"

"Why are you coming back to me? The dangers alone from..."

"I know all that!" She sighed and looked up at the ceiling of his cab for a moment. She took a deep breath and dropped her gaze back down to his dash."Look...I'm just sick of pretending. Sick of being stressed out. Sick of knowing how it's affected you."

"It is _that_ impact of which I speak. I cannot allow myself to be compromised."

"I haven't _compromised_ you either!" She spat. She had an all to real response as a woman who's heart was vulnerable. She was ready to flare up against assumed blame, but he cut her off.

"I have compromised myself." he sighed. This was Optimus Prime, not some self-centered man-child who missed his night out with the boys. It simply wasn't in him to lay blame. She had to keep her focus on that. He would _always_ blame himself.

"I'm...I'm sorry." she said quietly.

"It is not your fault."

"It take two to tango, Optimus." She smiled humorlessly.

"Another metaphor?"

"I know you won't ever blame _me_. You haven't even come close. " She ignored what he had asked. "And that's why I came out here. You can't keep carrying this around and we can't go back to how it was. No matter how much you wish for it."

"So your option is to what? For from where I stand, neither can we be together again." Prime answered.

That one silenced her, scattering her thoughts for a moment in that he would be capable of making such a declaration. She felt goosebumps down her back and over her thighs suddenly because in that instant, she was speaking to Optimus the individual.

"Optimus..." She breathed.

"What would you have it be, June? Stay at the base? Our feelings out in the open? You count on the others adjusting and they may very well be able to do so. But I _told _you on that first night, the dynamics of being a Prime would fade and I would become lesser to them at the same time I became more. The_ person_ you would make me...would weaken and endanger us all."

She managed to find her voice, knowing he had said all this before and ready to repeat some of her own.

"There's no reason you can't live a little."

"I just gave you the reason."

"It doesn't have to be in the open. We talked about this. We're not teenagers, remember?"

"Keeping our privacy is not the issue. This the argument we had before. But I am speaking now of such instances like the night with Airachnid."

"That had _nothing_ to do with us." June felt sick, but fought down all thoughts of that night, shoving them into a corner in her mind and focusing on Prime. Airachnid _did _know about her and Optimus. Through Arcee she had professed a desire to ease the pain, fill the void. And she had seduced June completely. So that was a lie June _had_ to tell Prime and it suddenly twisted her insides. Anything else would undo the secrets Jack had been so adamant about. Everything would landslide. She would lose Prime forever right here and now. Airachnid would win, just as Jack said.

"Our relationship was a factor that night." Prime went on. "For the very way it compromised me. As it did the night with the Vehicons."

"Stop using that word!"

"Never the less, you know it's true."

"So then what? You're just going to sit outside my house at night for the next forty or fifty years? You think the Decepticon's won't tumble to that also?" she felt tears touch the corners of her eyes. "Optimus you have to face the truth that as long as we humans are partnered with the Autobots in this war, we are at risk. It's just the way it has to be."

"You are partnered with us in this war, but none of you can be partnered with me. It's to dangerous. I weakens me. I am the last Prime. That is reason enough!" For the second time in her life, June heard Optimus raise his voice and she grew still, fighting the urge to cry.

_Focus. Don't let him martyr himself._

"All right then. I understand. But the question remains, what now? You keep saying you're compromised and I say there's no changing it back. So what will you do? You won't let us be together and it's no good pretending nothing happened. We can be apart physically sure, but here you are, spending each night outside my house like I said. You can cut me loose and maybe I can understand, but you won't cut _yourself_ loose. And then I come out here, all you can say is no, no, no." She said it rather emphatically, her anguish real and her heart hurting her.

She wanted Optimus back. Wanted him to_ listen_, as hard as that was to make happen. Bad enough there was the war, but the real opponent to them being an item was Optimus himself. Unless she made him see a way to reconcile her being at risk while being involved with him. She had tried once before. She had failed.

_Not this time._

He said nothing.

"Optimus." she paused. "Forty to fifty years and that's it. I won't live forever. I want to be with you and I don't want to 'compromise' you. So...so the only way we can do that is if you admit you have to let me go enough to risk losing me. But if you let me go in _that _way, another part of me can draw closer and _still_ be part of you life. Do you understand?"

He thought for a long, long moment. Minutes passed.

"Yes." he finally replied.

"Then what is it going to be?" She let out a breath. "Because you can't sit outside my house every night. Even if the Autobots deal with Airachnid, your enemies are my enemies. And one day, God help us, they'll catch on to thinking like Airachnid and...and use us against the Autobots and yourself."

"Then we never should have partnered with humans." He actually said it, his misery was that deep, and his regret absolute. But again, it was Optimus Prime. He spoke from selflessness, not selfishness.

"Do you regret bringing humans into your circle?"

"I regret how it has changed the nature of their lives. Their safety."

"And yet my son fights alongside you." She said with a tiny touch of pride. Remembering how Jack had stopped Airachnid and wondering if Optimus was thinking about that too.

"Nothing is for certain." she went on. "Humans know this first and foremost and yet we choose to do what we do and let come what may." She didn't say that exactly right, but she knew in the moment he would understand. And he did.

After another long moment, incredibly, Optimus Prime reached out.

"I...I will not let you out of my sight. Not until I am more certain of your safety." he finally allowed that much. He finally loosened his grip on his self-imposed punishment and allowed for the tiniest chance something _else_ could offer a solution. And now that she got him here, she didn't have a good idea herself. But it was a first step.

She looked back out at her house, and despite the sudden awareness of her long bare legs and sheer clothing, her loose hair and being barely dressed for bed, all June could really feel in that moment was tired. It had been such a long day. But a _tiny _current of her libido stirred, from a dead place she never thought it would recover from, and she was painfully aware of her hard nipples showing through the fabric of her clothes. But Optimus's words reached her more deeply than just her body. They told her something more. And in her mind, it felt like slipping her hand back into his.

"I can't stay out at the base all the time." she said.

"And as you say, I cannot stay here every night." He replied.

She turned back with a smile.

"Well...why don't we just compare day planners and work out a schedule?"

"I do not know what a day planner is. But a schedule is...reasonable." He was doing it, he was meeting her half way, and June Darby wanted to cry. She wiped her cheek quickly and sat up.

"Then that's what it will be. On nights I can't help but be home and nights you can't help but have to be at the base. We'll just work it all out."

He said nothing.

"Are we going to work it out? I mean...at least talk more. Or something?" she cringed a little.

Another long moment passed. June had given Optimus much room for thought. He was already evaluating on what she said of the Decepticons stumbling across his presence at her home. And he had been keeping sentry for two months. Now he had no choice. They had to arrange something else and June's idea was sound. But, and perhaps best of all, he was willing to admit he wanted her back in his life. For now, he would think, and sensing her fatigue, it was time for her to go home.

Maybe tomorrow was a new day.

"Yes." He replied. "I would...like that. But for now..." He paused, weighing his words. "For now dear June, you should go back inside and sleep."

June laughed a little at herself, sitting out here like this, and she brushed tears off her face with both hands. Later, when she was back inside, she would cry herself to sleep, smiling, wiping more tears off her face in the dark and never having felt better. She would sleep soundly for the first time in months.

"Yes. Yes, I know. The crazy half-naked lady sitting in a semi cab talking to herself."

Optimus didn't laugh. "But he is glad she came outside." He said and at that June leaned forward and planted a kiss on his steering wheel, without a care in the world. Then she sniffed and turned away as he opened his door to let her out.

**ooo**

June Darby slipped down onto the sidewalk running past her house and swung his door shut. He watched her then, go carefully across the dry grass of her backyard and heading for the garage door. His eyes wandered down to the white flash of her long legs and attractive calves. The dainty step of her feet and how the wind made her sheer gown cling to her bare bottom. He wondered if she knew it left nothing to the imagination. She was fighting to keep her hair under control with her free hand, the robe clutched in the other, only turning to look back at him once she reached the door and took hold of the handle.

She stood there in the dim light of the fall quartered moon, staring at him. She was still young. Beautiful, tall and vibrant. Not to unlike Arcee herself in her own way, with the subtle and alluring curves of her body. The beauty in her face. Her eyes. It made him ache as he zoomed in to look upon her. The wind howled around a bit more strongly for a moment and June Darby demurely held down the hem of her nightie as it whipped up around her milky white thighs.

Then she slipped back inside and shut the door. Optimus waited, sensing her secure her dwelling and retreating back into the safety of her home.

Then he powered down and grew still...keeping watch all night.


	36. The Mind of Rafael

**The Mind of Rafael**

"Hmm. Hibernation mode." Ratchet stared off into the middle distance, rubbing his chin.

"That's just a phrase. Human terminology. Think of it like a lower-power stand by." Rafael pushed up his glasses and tapped a few keys and then he turned to everyone. "Something similar to stasis lock, but only inside the head."

Today was the day. Having worked all this out with Miko, together Jack and Rafael had finally disclosed their idea to the Autobots on a possible way to reach Arcee. Or at least get some answers. Now in Central Command, they had all gathered there to talk it out. Optimus Prime was there, as was agent Fowler, and Jack hoped they hadn't forgotten anything.

It had taken longer than they had figured to put it all together, but that was okay. Since his talk with mom, Jack had been glad for the distraction. And he had been glad for Miko as well. She wasn't here now, she was back home for various reasons and his mom was at work with Bulkhead standing guard in town.

He would bring them up to speed later, but they had to present it now while Fowler was on hand.

"And how would this be accomplished in a Cybertronian?" Ratchet asked. Jack noticed he seemed to be lacking his usual skepticism. That seemed encouraging.

"Well...with some human computers there's a thing call a batch kernel command loop." Rafael went on.

"Speak English, son." Fowler chimed in.

"It's a command file that maintains a secondary back up of higher functions in a permanent loop, closed off from the main CPU. A fail-safe in much higher grade computer systems that acts like a system restore. It's usually found in government systems or federal reserves."

"That was English? Rafael, don't make me arrest you before you turn eighteen." Fowler said, unfolding his arms and setting his hands on his hips. Rafael turned in his seat with a nervous little chuckle and pushed up his glasses again.

"Well anyway, if Airachnid got her hands on something like that, she could have locked up Arcee's mind with little trouble." he said.

Ratchet leaned in, studying Rafael's hypothesis as it scrolled up the computer screen of Central's main terminal. "I hate to burst anyone's bubble here, but this is all theory. You're applying human terminology to a Cybertronian brain and that's not...rational."

"I know it sounds like using a pocket calculator to build a satellite, but the thing to remember is Airachnid got to her when Arcee was downloading from the internet right? The _human _internet." Rafael rubbed his hands together a little. "She figured it all out somehow. And no one would be better at exploiting what they could learn on the internet than Airachnid."

"She would have competition among the Decepticon elite, but yes." Prime intoned gravely.

"And she could have easily picked up things like batch commands and turned them into a virus. It's been done before."

Now Ratchet did scoff. "Pah-lease. A human virus couldn't begin to come close to affecting an Autobot's cortex."

"But one altered by a Decepticon like Airachnid very well could." Prime seemed to be coming around himself and for that, Jack was glad. It was time for him to add his two cents.

"And remember, she bragged to me about that very thing, too. That she locked Arcee up inside her own mind. So she had to have some kind of help from somewhere, right?"

Ratchet turned and looked back at Jack meaningfully. "Perhaps. But...and I hate to say this as well, there's been _no_ sign of Arcee in there. Not even a flicker."

Jack stayed undaunted. "But that's the whole point." And Rafael picked it up from there.

"You said you could monitor her brain activity, but had limited means to interact with it." The younger boy went on, the towering Autobot medic turning back to listen. "If Airachnid used something of her own making, with a human virus as a blueprint, it could be as simple as over-looking what's wrong because we don't know what to look _for_." That was the best sales pitch they had and Rafael used it beautifully.

Ratchet straightened up, thoughtful, and after a moment he nodded. "That _is _a compelling argument." he looked at Optimus.

"Indeed." Prime agreed. "Rafael, Jack, this may give us the one chance we've been hoping for. Very astute thinking."

Rafael beamed. Jack just smiled a little.

"So the question is now, where do we go from here? How do we act on it?" Ratchet looked back down at Rafael, who in turned glanced past Jack to agent Fowler.

"I think that's where I come in, Doc." Fowler took a step closer and nodded at Rafael. "Go ahead, son."

"Well..." Rafael gathered his thoughts. "I know we don't have our own cortical equipment like the Decepticons do, so I came up with an idea to improvise some software that agent Fowler gave me."

"The VR3." Fowler added.

"Virtual reality three." Rafael sounded off. "It was obsolete the day it was completed. I think it was meant for monitoring fuel pressures in type two jet turbines."

Prime turned and looked down at agent Fowler.

"Government spending, Prime." He smirked at the massive Autobot leader. "The jet it was meant for was retired from active surface before the program was completed. But it was already paid for, so they went ahead and finished it at the same time they started VR4. Number three was moth-balled and then forwarded to my department to see if the Autobots could make use of it."

"Lucky us." Jack worked up a passable smile.

"You can say that again." Rafael grinned, turning back and typing away. "I won't go in detail, but using that program, I fashioned a reality matrix that can bridge right into an Autobot's cortex using the relay we now know Arcee was using to download. That's how we'll get in. Just like Airachnid must have. Once inside, with our own server as a jumping off point, the program restructures all data to a VR format and transmits it as such. If all goes well, we can sail right on into Arcee's mind like a human-made cortical psychic patch and anything we encounter from that point on will come up as virtual reality."

"That was the simplified version?" Fowler smiled, but he did so as he stepped up and ruffled Rafael's hair. Then the three humans looked up at the towering Autobots. Ratchet was looking at the scrolling data again and Prime had turned to back to stare at Arcee's massive rejuvenation bath.

"Look here guys." Rafael clicked 'play' as Optimus turned back, and he treated everyone to a two minute animation file he had worked up. It showed, in a simplified way, how Rafael's modified software would access Arcee's mind.

After the video ended, Optimus turned to Ratchet. "Conclusions?" he asked.

"Plausible." Ratchet straightened up and Jack realized they were experiencing one of those rare moments that the Autobots talked among themselves in a manner of true Cybertronians. Titanic, advanced, living mechanical organisms. It was almost like he could feel the thrumming power of the Transformer civilization in that moment and it gave him chills.

"Crude, but definitely plausible." The old warrior medic went on. Then he blinked. He turned once more to Rafael. "No offense meant, Rafael." and just like that he was Ratchet again. Rafael just smiled, kicking his feet in the over-sized chair. Ratchet turned back to Prime.

"But Optimus, using this method and having it based solely on human interface parameters, it will expose them to all the risks."

"Risks?" Jack asked.

"It is untested." Prime looked down at him.

"We have no basis to go off of. That's the first risk." Ratchet added.

"And the rest being all in theory, we know not what to expect." Prime intoned.

"I've run simulations." Rafael immediately replied. "We've even have the sensor helmet and gyro-chair." To the surprise of both Jack and Rafael, Fowler sided with them.

"I did my homework, Prime. This VR series model responded better across the board to a young mind like Rafael's than it did to twenty five year old navy pilots."

"That's not what Optimus means." Ratchet went on. "A simulation inside a stand alone unit is one thing. But we don't have any idea what the user will encounter once inside a Cybertronian's mind. How it will translate through the program. I cannot _begin_ to count the ways something could go wrong."

"Especially inside a mind that has been compromised in such a manner as Arcee's." Prime finished.

"Well, let's test it then. On a mind that we know is ok." Fowler put his hands back on his hips. "I'll do it. And one of you can stand in." He sounded a touch incredulous, as if they were all overlooking the obvious.

"But..." Rafael began.

"That would give us a base line to go off of, sure enough." Jack jumped in.

"Advantageous, yes." Prime admitted.

"Now hold on a minute!" Ratchet spluttered, making a cutting motion with one hand. "Again, we're getting ahead of ourselves. Listen to what I am saying. Even _with_ a successful test on one of us, we don't know what will happen when we link to Arcee."

"But let's at least do the test." Jack fought the urge to wring his hands. He was getting a bad feeling about this. "And besides, I think you're giving our little program to much credit. It's not even close to being a cortical psychic patch, right? And as far as that goes, when Bumblebee dove into Megatron, it was perfectly harmless in there."

"But..." Rafael said again, pushing his glasses back up his nose.

"I wouldn't call anything about Megatron's mind harmless!" Ratchet huffed.

"Well, we can't think of a more dangerous mind to have been skipping around in than _that._ And everything worked out fine." Fowler quipped. "So let's get started and see what we can see, huh?"

"But I'm the only one who knows the program!" Rafael announced suddenly and they all turned to look him. Jack's stomach twisted up a little. Uh oh. There it was. The deal breaker. Would they sign off on letting Rafael take the lead here with all this? Or would they insist on it being someone else? Some expert? Knowing their luck, there wouldn't _be_ an expert. And then it would take weeks to train some specialist. Again that whole 'being benched' thing loomed over their heads suddenly. And indeed, just like that Prime's whole manner screamed uncertainty when it was Rafael he had to now consider. Jack held his breath, knowing he had to pick his moment and keep this 'in house'.

"That's...that's a problem." Ratchet stammered.

"If I understand the nature of this Virtual Reality, I am uncomfortable with the idea of putting our youngest human counter-part at risk." Prime spoke. He looked down at Rafael who visibly sagged.

"In any manner." Prime finished gently.

Fowler provided Jack with the moment he needed. At least someone around here didn't see him as a kid anymore. And they all knew what he had done that night he had faced down Airachnid. He turned and gave Jack an appraising look.

"What about Jack? Can he be walked through it?"

Fowler was thinking of the time he had suited Jack up for a trip to Cybertron. The kid had sand and what was more, touching Fowler's romantic old soul, he had a reason to succeed. Just like any good soldier. He was deferring to Jack now, having second thoughts about volunteering himself because he _was_ a little out of his element.

Jack looked past Fowler to see Rafael staring at him pensively. And in his face he could see that it _was_ possible Jack could be walked through it. Definitely. But Rafael had his hopes set on doing this himself. And besides, now that the idea was taking shape, Jack didn't want to have to work his way through some user manual. What was more, letting Rafael submerse himself in this undertaking was the least Jack could do. If he preempted him, told him no or reigned him in one more time, Rafael's spirit and his loyalty would flounder for sure.

"I could if Rafael walked me through it. But I think it's time we started having some faith in Raf. When I brought this to him it was just a thought. Everything he's told us here today is his brain-child. And he'd be perfectly safe linking with one of you for the initial test, right?"

Rafael's face soared with absolute adoration and Jack smiled at him in a direct manner that the others couldn't miss. Fowler turned and looked at Rafael, then he glanced up at the Autobots, saying nothing more and leaving it up to them.

Ratchet looked thoughtful and said nothing.

"Hmmm." Prime rumbled softly. He even rubbed his chin a little like Ratchet had earlier.

"And what's more, he'll be better equipped to deal with whatever pops up in the program. And if we opt for some kind of expert?" Jack looked at Ratchet and then over at Prime. "Well, my one thought _there_ is, if we _do_ link with Arcee, Rafael has a better chance of being recognized by her. And that could very well mean he has a better chance of waking her up."

To his surprise Ratchet looked more or less gruffly convinced, the scientific aspect intriguing him even now, and he turned back to the data to give it another once over. Prime was wavering.

"There isn't anybody to bring in on this, Prime." Fowler added. "This one has to be fielded by these young men, I think."

_Bless you, you old warhorse._

"What are your feelings, Ratchet?" Prime asked his chief medical officer after a moment. Ratchet sighed as he continued to read.

"Well in all fairness, a test with one of _us_ is the soundest idea so far." He straightened up and turned to back. "I guess there can be no harm in that. Perhaps the simplicity of the program will act as safety measure. As Jack suggested." He looked down.

"Again...no offense intended, Rafael."

"None taken." Rafael was positively glowing.

"Very well. We will proceed.." Prime declared. "Rafael will have his test."

"Bumblebee volunteers!" Ratchet replied immediately, turning to put in a call to their young scout.

**ooo**

Miko and Jack stood on each side of Rafael's seat. The VR unit was a plush hydraulic recliner with thick pads of blue gel, shaped like a crescent moon, with a jointed arm holding a flight helmet up above the head rest. There were two molded armrests that had individual keyboards built into each one at the very end where the operator put his hands. The helmet itself was equipped with a heavy visored LCD screen and the whole works really looked like a two million dollar video game.

"This is neat." Miko grinned, running her hands over the gel pads. Rafael reclined easily in the chair as Bumblebee lay next to him on one of the huge exam tables from medical. A field medic agent had attached the little VR leads to Rafael's temples and on three different spots across his forehead. But now Rafael's face looked a little troubled.

"What's up, Raf?" Jack asked him.

Rafael looked up from studying his tennis shoes. "I've been thinking about this 'benching' talk you've been going on about." he said quietly.

"Yeah?"

"I know this is going to work, Jack. I just know it. So don't let them pull me off it when it comes time to go in after Arcee."

Jack put a hand on his shoulder. "See how we have to stick together? I already hinted about you going in after Arcee, right? And even though Ratchet kicked a little, truth is, they know this is all we got. And you're our best bet."

"Thanks, Jack."

"And whoever got hurt playing around with VR?" Miko cut in. "Which means I get to take a turn at this!" Jack and Rafael smiled at her. Then she bent down next to Rafael's shoulder, setting her chin on the back of her fingers as she laced them together.

"Are you scared? Just a little?" she crinkled up her nose.

Rafael looked over at her and smirked a bit. "It's not going to be like the movies." he smiled. She kissed her finger and pressed it lightly to the end of his nose.

Jack sure hoped so.

_Nothing like the movies at all. And not even a headache. Don't let him get so much as a headache._

"We're ready here, Optimus." Ratchet looked up from where he was finishing with the bundles of cables leading out from the VR unit. Along with those, there was one fine fiber-optic cable connect to Bumblebee's temple, coming down off the table and joining the others, to come around and branch into the main computer terminal. Two field techs were helping out, plainly curious themselves as to what was coming next.

"Rafael, please proceed." Optimus spoke.

Rafael reached down and closed his hands over the two keyboard modules. His fingers danced over them like the buttons on an accordion. Slowly, the large helmet came down and locked into place and the VR unit hummed as it started up. Miko had straightened up by then and she gave Jack an encouraging little smile. He tried not to look nervous in return. Unnoticed, the field medic, a stern looking young man in his thirties, checked Rafael's vitals at the back of the VR unit and then he looked over and nodded once to Ratchet.

"On your mark, Rafael." Ratchet turned back to the computer.

"Here we go." Rafael said.

**ooo**

When Rafael gasped, Jack's testicles felt like they were going to crawl back up behind his stomach. He spun around in his chair, his whole body tensing.

"What is it?" He cried. Miko was leaning over in her chair, slapping at his arm with one hand.

"It's beautiful!" Rafael said and then Miko managed to grab hold of Jack and turn him back around to see the huge display screen set up between Rafael and Bumbleblee. It had been Miko's idea to grab a couple of chairs and sit close to Rafael.

A tremendous vista of Cybertron sparkled on the screen, gloriously filled with light and glowing energon as multitudes of Transformers walked about, going about their daily lives. Pixeled clouds of vibrant energy littered the sky, raining tiny crystals of heavy metals and pure energon over the metal landscape. Rolling hills and running rivers of light, vast cities and soaring mountains, it was truly incredible. The planet sang with harmony, life and light. A living mechanical world. Bumblebee, quite conscious, turned to look at the screen himself and he beeped enthusiastically.

Rafael was smiling from ear to ear under his ungainly helmet.

"Cybertron. They have successfully accessed one of Bumblebee's memories." Ratchet said quietly, turning to Optimus. Even Optimus paused for a moment, standing off to the side with Fowler, his deep blue eyes taking in the sight of his living home world made real on the screen.

They could see Bumblebee on the screen now, and Rafael was standing next to him.

"That's got it! See!? It works!" Rafael cried. "I can...I can...well, it's hard to describe. It feels like I'm really there."

"Hmm. Now for the real test." Ratchet spoke quietly. He turned back to his computer. "Bumblebee? Proceed as planned."

And by way of simple test, Bumblebee leaned down next to Rafael and gently nudged him with a finger. But just as it had for him back when he was inside Megatron's mind, Bumblebee's finger passed harmlessly through Rafael, who began giggling in delight.

"I knew I could do it." The little genius beamed, the helmet comically large on his head as he lay on the gel pads.

"Rafael, see if you can directly influence your environment." Optimus turned. Rafael frowned. concentrating. Privately he was wishing for a naked Miko in a bathtub, but nothing appeared. He knew it wouldn't, but still it was fun to try. It would have been even more fun if this had turned out like the movies.

"All clear." He said, his voice catching with laughter in his delight.

"You ok, Raf?" Miko asked.

"Oh yes. It's just so...cool in here."

"I have _got_ to try this." Miko grinned, looking back at Jack.

"And Bumblebee can see him. They can interact. It works." Jack nodded at the screen.

"Yes. But unlike a cortical patch, they are both conscious." Ratchet tapped a few buttons. "Bumblebee, do you actually see Rafael in your mind? Or do you just hear him over on his couch?"

Bumblebee shook his head no, tapping his temple with a fingertip and chirping away.

"I know! This is awesome! Show me around!" Rafael cried.

"I would call that a successful test then." Fowler stretched before pressing both his hands into the small of his back.

"Perhaps." Prime said and he turned away to slowly walk over to Arcee's great glowing tube of energon. Fowler came with him, stepping quietly up next to him and crossing his arms.

Behind them, the assembled members of the team carried on.

"You going to let him go all the way?" Fowler asked, inclining his head at the murky shape of Arcee.

"I have not yet decided." Prime answered evenly.

"It's hard letting them grow up." Fowler sniffed.

"Pardon?" Prime turned slightly.

"Nothing. It's a human thing." Fowler wiped away a smudge on the glass with his thumb. He could see everyone's reflection in it. "They were working on this for days when they brought it to me. Rafael can sure do some amazing things with a computer."

"Mhh." Was all Prime replied, turning back to look inside at Arcee.

"It's just hard convincing yourself that some risks are necessary and that you have to trust people to handle themselves." Fowler said, rather innocently.

Primes do not wince. They have no guilty conscience in such matters, although they_ do_ feel guilt. And many other emotions. But, stoic as ever, Prime did not react to Fowler's words. He just stared into the glass, into the currents of energon, thoughtful. He was struggling yet to come to terms with how June had eased his mind over the two of them a few nights ago. It wasn't that he was evenly full committed to this new course of action, or this new found accord with June, but he _had_ allowed her to step back into his life. And he felt immediately better. And a touch worse.

It was difficult for him. And now Rafael, unknowingly, was making a strong case for the very things June had pointed out.

Her words from that night rang true now in the case of the young adults in his care. How did humans do that? So quickly with words and emotions? They were the ones that shined brightly next to a Cybertronian. Bright, fantastic, larger than life. And oh so fragile.

"Yes. So it would seem." Prime replied, raising a hand and setting it against the glass.

**ooo**

What had been so serious before quickly changed to a pleasant adventure as Bumblebee and Rafael happily plumbed the depths of the program and how it interfaced with Bumblebee's consciousness. Ratchet blustered a little, but had to admit things were running smoothly. Miko was caught up in it now as well and was already pestering Ratchet to let her try it with Bulkhead, on her feet and up close to the screen, whooping like a spectator.

Jack smiled, glad for her presence, pointing at things on the screen and stepping back to hang on him in a subtle, yet direct manner. Today, incredibly, had not been so grim. Not so tortured. Today had been easy, light. Almost normal. No tortured emotions and heartache.

He could get used to that. Like the old days. Miko was clapping her hands and saying something while pointing. But Jack wasn't listening to closely now. He was watching Fowler and Optimus. Today Fowler had been surprisingly helpful and that was a load off his mind for the old soldier gave off no other vibe except solid optimism.

_Not future trouble there at least, seeing as how I need to make another trip to the armory soon._

And Prime? Prime seemed thoughtful and ever so slightly more...accommodating? It was subtle, but it was there. Seems like his mother might have already worked on him a little this past week. That was fine by him.

_Let it all come together and hold together. Just a little longer._

Miko was out of her seat again, laughing, and firing off a dozen questions to Rafael, who happily chatted back as if he was laying in a lawn chair. Ratchet was absorbed with the data he was monitoring and Bumblebee was watching his own mind unfold into a TV show. Jack looked back at Fowler and Prime once more, then looked between them at Arcee's huge rejuvenation tube.

_That's right. Just a little longer. Because when we're done here...I'm going in after Airachnid. _


	37. Love and Loss Light and Dark

**Love and Loss. Light and Dark.**

Rafael let the helmet rise up and retract before he sat up. Dropping his legs over the side of the chair, his feet didn't even touch the floor as he sat up on the recline couch of the VR3 unit.

Then he started to cry.

No great wracking sobs, just fat wet tears that silently started to roll down his cheeks as he sat there. He cried hard, all things considered, but he made no real sound, lifting his glasses up now and then and wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

Miko, not the least to noticed his upset, was the one to come over and hug him, though. But a loving touch at such a moment did more to make Rafael cry harder than anything else.

He moaned a tiny bit.

"She's not in there. There's nothing. Nothing at all." He couldn't help but say. You could have heard a pin drop in Central Command.

**ooo**

There lay Arcee, resplendent in her shining blue armor, on the exam table next to Rafael's VR unit.

It was startling to see her again, especially this close. After spending ten weeks in the energon bath, team Prime had finally taken the first step to try and get some answers with their comatose member, thanks to the efforts of the good Rafael.

Prime himself had lifted her from the rejuvenation tube and everyone present had felt the weight of the moment, making them all subdued and quiet. It was not something to celebrate anyway. And as Ratchet hooked Arcee up to the Autobot equivalent of life-support, Jack was the most affected to look upon her, though he hid it well.

Arcee looked amazing. Beautiful. And painfully sexy. At least to him. It was like the healing time she had spent in the bath all these weeks had erased every scratch, care line and scuff mark and if you hovered your hands over her skin, they tingled slightly. Surely she must have been at her optimum level after spending so much time submersed in the healing elements of the energon. It was either that or he was imaging things...and he didn't think he was. The other Autobots didn't seem as...fresh. And the aura from Arcee had always been vibrant. Or perhaps it was just Arcee herself and how she had always made him feel this way.

If that was so, it had shaken him to be this close to her again and feel the potency of her over-powering sexuality. His desire for her had dulled in the two months he had been cut off from her, turning into nothing more than a dull ache of frustration. Anger and upset had rushed in and filled him up all this time.

So, at first, he couldn't stop looking at her.

She glowed with health. Her slender arms and delicate fingers. The high firm arch of her breasts cutting down into the sleek, narrow taper of her stomach and waist, running down to her curvy hips and alluring bottom, with the suggestive way her armor rode a touch to low around it all. Plus her long sleek legs with their graceful thighs and shapely calves, finished off by her armored boots. Even her paint scheme, a deep navy blue with soft pink highlights, accentuated key places on her body and drew the eye in. All this lent itself to give her a dash of the athletic dominatrix, for lack of a better word. In a subtle way, of course.

That is, if you looked at her sexually.

He sighed and looked up, to the demure curve of her little shoulders that led to the almost delicate looking line of her graceful neck. Which in turn led to her flawless face and smooth streamlined helmet. But there her beauty ended, incomplete without the deep glow of her rich cobalt eyes.

Arcee. How could she look like a hot babe back fresh from the gym after she had been out battling Cons? And her attitude was the real icing on the cake.

Sexy, tough, sassy and bitchy. He had wanted to kiss her so badly it made his chest ache.

But now, he felt as wretched as he had ever felt in his life. He was a little light headed, desperately wishing he could just shake her awake when Rafael had pronounced what he had.

For Jack Darby was the reason she lay there. Alive and yet not-alive. And where before everyone had told themselves it was a dreamless sleep she slept, now it was a waking nightmare.

A nightmare without shape, form or substance. A nightmare of no mind.

A washed out, bleak barren landscape. Impossibly flat and stretching forever. Alien and hollow. Filled with an ankle deep milky fluid that Rafael had splashed on through as he searched inside the VR program for over two hours.

This was how the program matrix interpreted the data from Arcee. A limbo that changed not a speck as Rafael pushed on. Lacking so much as a breeze or any discernible landmark, it was like being in the desert, with the sun a fugue haze surrounding you. No, in truth it was less than that. Beyond making your senses useless, giving you nothing to judge time or distance by. Empty. Lifeless. Absent.

Void.

That's why Rafael cried. Arcee was gone.

And Jack Darby had killed her.

**ooo**

"How long has he been up there?" June asked as she poured two tall glasses of milk. Miko sat quietly, not looking up. Nor was she slumped over the table acting bored, but sitting there straight backed and subdued, lost in her own thoughts. She was wearing a tight black tank top, jeans and boots, with her hair pulled up into a small one sided pom-pom in accent to her pretty face. The rest fell down around her shoulders beautifully and June could see why she had caught Jack's eye. Had anyone ever noticed that the pink highlight in Miko's hair was as the pink highlights on Arcee? June hoped not. What was she now? Eighteen? Had to be close. Miko looked a little pale though. Tired. Probably as wretched as Jack was himself and June supposed her presence didn't help matters. It was Rafael who answered.

"About an hour before you got here." He sniffed a little, looking tired as well and his eyes were puffy and red. June, projecting a little no-nonsense parenting, wiped her hands on a paper towel and stepped back to check the small frozen entrees in the microwave.

She wouldn't call it food in the strictest sense. The quality here in the cafeteria was wanting for lack of better nutrition lately. She'd worry about that later, knowing that the kids at least enjoyed the HappyHunger frozen dinners that Fowler bought by the crate. They smelled like gravy and steamed hamburger. Not the worst. Passable enough. But maybe she would bring all three of them home some night and cook some...June shook her head. No time to play nice. Things were to tentative.

But June Darby had found herself again. She felt strong, centered, with her feet planted firm on the ground. She felt like mom. And since the world hadn't ended and she hadn't died of embarrassment yet, it seemed like she came out to the base just in time.

When the microwave dinged, she had already laid out napkins and silverware and she brought the two steaming platters over on a tray. Setting them down, she noticed neither Miko or Rafael gave them much attention. Rafael was drinking his milk at least. June sighed and slipped down onto the seat across from them, here at one of the cafeteria tables. Miko grimaced a little and kept staring at her lap.

"Okay, you two listen me, all right?" She said, with enough older authority that they did look up.

"Please try and eat something." she said kindly, surprising Miko, who had expected something else entirely. "And I know you don't feel like it and it's gonna sound _silly_..." June tilted her head with a self-depreciating smirk. "But then maybe go lay down for a while. Shut the light off. Take a nap. Or watch some TV." She paused. "At the very least, try not to think about everything so much." She reached out and patted their hands. _Both_ their hands. Miko let her, staring at June with a mix of weary, though guarded, relief.

"And try not to think about how I'm going to get some healthier food in this cafeteria next week." She gave Rafael's hand a little squeeze and he actually managed a small chuckle. As he peeled back the cellophane layer of his entree, June turned and made eye contact with Miko, taking her hand back and straightening up.

"I'll go talk with him." She said to the younger woman. "Okay?"

The corners of Miko's mouth came up by the tiniest fraction and she took a deep breath and let it out with a soft sigh. She was already peeling back the corner of her own platter as June got up and headed out of the cafeteria. Miko didn't watch her go, she just gave Rafael a hug with one arm and then picked up her fork.

**ooo**

June waited until she was in the small personal elevator that led up to the top of the base before she sagged a little against the wall. Her forehead in one hand, she hugged herself with the other arm, permitting herself a moment's weakness.

She knew all about today. She and Optimus had already talked and that had been bad enough. Her own conscience still bothered her a little, but if anything she had to be strong now. The great seductress had succeeded and Arcee was gone. Mindless. Rendered permanently comatose since that horrible night.

As she heard the elevator car slow down, she straightened up and steeled herself. June Darby had just gotten her son back. And while she was the other ill-used party in this whole affair, it wouldn't do to feel any guilt now. She would have to think clearly and be strong for them _both _this evening. Even though she had no real idea what state she would find Jack in up here. And so, she prepared herself as best she could to face whatever she found. Even anger. Even blame.

The elevator opened up into a small service building, built into a small outcropping of rock. It smelled of dust and was bereft of everything but an old desk and a folding chair. Jack wasn't there.

June walked across the small space and turned the knob on the door that led to the outside. The light was going and it was going to get chilly, but she still had her jacket on and she had to find Jack out here before it got dark.

Funny thing was, this high up on one of the larger mesas in Nevada, the sun wouldn't set for another hour after it had gone down in town.

And somewhere out here was her son.


	38. The Mind of Jack Darby

**The Mind of Jack Darby**

"Jack?"

He heard her of course. He wasn't that far off after all. He had been sitting off to her right, on the west edge of the great round steel doors at the top of the old missile silo. Sometimes you could forget this had once been a base during the cold war. But this was a good place to forget things. The wind whipped around in gusts, the air more clear than a person should expect. This high up there was no sand, the wind kept everything scoured clean. It was lonely, cold and isolated.

A perfect place to be miserable, too.

He stood up, setting his hands on his hips, as his mother came walking over. He had been looking out over the desert to the west, far out over the town of Jasper. Watching the sun set. His short dark hair was blowing around and he had to be a little cold what with the desert evening coming on. He turned just enough to look at his mom.

Sometimes it could strike him just how pretty his mother actually was. She wore squared off, stylish little black boots with a chunky heel and simple denim jeans. Topping it off with a dark blue windbreaker buttoned up over a cream colored sweater. And as always her own long dark hair was tied back behind her pretty face. He liked the way she was always brushing a stray hair out of her face and in this wind, even a ponytail could be blown around.

She looked good in jeans. Her hips and chest had their own kind of appeal over Miko's young curves and on better days she didn't look that much older than twenty herself.

But she didn't look so bright now. She looked quietly concerned. The face of a mother who knew her son had heard some bad news and was coming to see if he was all right.

She slowed as she came up to him and he turned back some to look out over the view. She stopped there on his right, uncertain if she should hug him or what. He looked grim, and the tough old surplus camo jacket he had on made him look older than he was.

"Here you are." She smiled softly, deciding to give him a one armed squeeze as she had seen Miko do for Rafael.

"Yeah." He sighed, dropping his one arm and turning just enough to reach around her waist half heartedly, tolerating the hug for a moment with a single pat on the back. Then, putting his hand back on his hip, he went back to staring out over the landscape and June had to more or less do the same, knowing that she should wait for him to talk. She hugged herself and stood there next to him, looking around a little. She hadn't been up here that many number of times.

"How long have you been here?" Jack asked her, looking off to his left.

"Oh, about an hour." June made as if to look at her watch, but then shrugged like it didn't matter. She looked up at him and rubbed her hands together a little. "You've been up here for almost two hours then. So Rafael tells me."

He smirked and gave it a little shrug."You've heard then."

"Yes." she paused. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really." He sighed, the wind howling a bit more about mother and son. "I suppose you expected to find me all broken up."

"Maybe."

Together they stood there, watching the sun drop towards the horizon behind the growing clouds.

"So...are you worried I'm going to lash out at you or something?" He asked, looking back at her.

"A little." She answered truthfully. "But before you deny anything, it's just reflex thing. I'll understand if you feel a little raw with me at times." It was her turn to look away.

"How do you think I should feel about today then?" He asked.

"How do you want to feel?" She brushed her hair behind her ear and turned back.

"I dunno. It's all...swirling around inside." He sighed and circled a finger by his ear, turning away from her again. Were they going to keep this up? Avoiding each others eyes?

"I suppose you're thinking about everything you could have done differently." she said.

"Do you ever do that?"

"Oh yes. I do my fair share of that very thing."

He sighed again. "You know, after all that's happened, here we stand. The both of us. And the one who really paid the price is laying downstairs on life support." He grimaced.

"Are you sorry we survived?" she asked quietly.

"Don't be silly." He snorted..

"Then I don't think it's fair you keep blaming yourself." She reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. Jack turned to her finally, smiling slyly but without humor. His expression was troubling.

"Oh, but I _do_. If I hadn't been such a pig about it, Arcee wouldn't have been fuckin' around on the internet for Airachnid to ambush her. _You_ wouldn't have gotten...in trouble._ I_ wouldn't have had to _fry_ her." His tone suggested he had more to go on with, but June stopped him.

"Jackson Darby this is the last thing you should do." she replied, squeezing his shoulder. "Stand up here and crucify yourself with a bunch of hindsight." Jack sighed and looked away again.

"I know all about that." His mother went on, dropping her hand. "Don't let the blame fester. See it, feel it, and then let it go." She dared reply.

"Yeah, ok." He shrugged off her words, unconvinced. "That's all well and good when we talk things out." he turned back to her just as suddenly as he had turned away. "But someone is meant to pay right? It can't just be washed away. If there's any universal justice, someone has to be held accountable."

"You think it's you? Me?"

"Airachnid!" he snapped, his voice rising.

"Jack...she may very well be dead already." June suggested carefully.

"Here's hoping so, right? Since I ran enough juice through Arcee to turn her into a fucking vegetable."

What was scary was that he didn't cry. And that he hadn't _been _crying. He didn't lose his composure or even remotely hint at any grief. If anything, he was angry. Not furious, just a cold, deadly, awesome anger. She had seen him hurt, seen him furious. Just last week. Seen him finally let it out when it came to her, his mother. But this was different.

June was a tiny bit afraid of, and for, her son, seeing him like this.

"So what can you do about it?" She asked, trying to steer his feelings at the same time she was trying to see where they were going to go.

Jack turned away yet again and held still, for so long that June felt the tips of her ears were a little numb. The sun had sunk half way down into the desert, over a hundred miles away, submersed in the dark hazy purple line of the horizon. The thin, rolling clouds were copper and dark red and stars were starting to come out over head.

"I, that is we, haven't told the Autobots this, but Rafael has worked out the location of Airachnid's last lair." Jack announced. June was surprised, to say the least.

"Jack...really? Why haven't you told..." She stopped as he turned back to her. "How...how did he manage that?" she managed to ask.

"It's complicated." Jack replied, his face suddenly a strange mix of emotions.

"Well, don't you think..." she stopped again.

June was a smart woman. Observant and sharp witted. And now that her mind had relaxed a little this last week and she was thinking clearly? She knew her son's mind. Their long talk and the clearing of the air had helped. So had the four years of war with the Autobots. But it was _that_ talk that suddenly made everything fall into place. The little things he had said during their conversation that could only creep into a mother's mind and even as she guessed at what that meant, she knew her conclusions were spot on.

June blinked once. Twice. And then her stomach fell down in to her boots.

"Oh, no. Oh, no you don't! You are _not_ going after her alone!" Suddenly she didn't noticed the growing chill.

"Yes I am." he said evenly.

"The _hell _you are!" she cried. Startled like this, her control was slipping more than his.

"Mother?" He said, his voice rising with a warning note like the one he had used in his bedroom when she had embarrassed the three of them. "I am going after her alone and that's that."

Unreasonably, she said the wrong thing. "I'll tell the Autobots. I'll tell Optimus."

Without yelling, Jack answered her with his own words. "The hell you _will_." He stared at her, his eyes never more serious than they were right now. June's own 'Darby temper' flared up.

"What does that mean? What is this? Are you holding me _hostage_ to all this based on everything that's happened?" She frowned.

"Nice choice of words." Jack smirked.

June slapped him. Neither one of them expected it. And she really didn't know why she did so because it hurt _her _more than it surprised_ him_. She wasn't even really sure what he had said was an insult. And cupping both hands over her mouth, she stared at Jack for only a moment, before she flung her arms around him and buried her face into his neck.

_She_ started crying now too. Some tough supportive mom she was. She felt Jack shake his head a little and then he took hold of her shoulders.

"The hell did you slap me for?" He gave a little laugh, just holding her and looking past her back at the service building. His voice had a measure of forced lightness to it all of a sudden, like he knew he had went to far. A moment passed and then June sniffled and pulled back stiffly.

"Because you're scaring me." She managed to get out, locking her tears down. He let his hands drop.

"That fast?"

"Of course!" she sniffed.

"Sorry." He watched her as she swiped at her cheeks with her fingers, and then he looked down at his feet and kicked a small stone away. He even shoved his hands into his pockets. The wind had picked up a little more.

"You want to tell me what's going on?" She prompted.

"I...I don't know why I told you. Maybe because you were there. Right in it. Maybe because you would understand. See the need, I dunno."

"I am not _about _to approve." She said, exasperated and mortified that she had come up here and slapped him. Today of all days. "That's to much to ask a mother."

"Come on, mom, don't start. I guess I just needed to tell someone who could tell me..." He shrugged. "Hell...I don't even know what."

He looked up and away again out over the land. "I gotta keep all this straight in my head and duck and weave all the time to get around everybody. Everybody that would prevent me from finishing this, so _please _don't start. Because I feel like all this _started _with me. One day everything's peachy with Arcee and then somehow it all ends up like this."

"What have you three been up to?" June asked, dabbing at her nose with her sleeve, disgusted with herself.

"Miko and Rafael are on board, but it's different with them than it is with you. They know more about some things and less about others." he sighed, looking down again and kicking at the pebbles.

"But the point I want to make is they know how we're all being sheltered. And...as a man I've _got_ to do something. I'm not just going to sit back and be baby-sat through this." He looked up at his mother again. "Especially not after today."

"It's Arcee we should be talking about."

"We _are_."

"I don't mean like this." she frowned.

"Well, this is what I'm thinking about."

June stared at her son for a long minute. "It's to dangerous."

"You're not going to stop me. Sorry." He answered with an exaggerated little shrug. He sounded absolutely convinced. June frowned, her hands curling into fists at his patronizing manner. He could see how upset she was and he deflated a touch.

"I shouldn't have told you. Kind of stupid of me."

"I wish you hadn't, but I'm glad you did!" June snapped.

Jack had to grin. "You're not making any sense, mom. It's not that bad."

"Jack, this is a mean thing you're doing to me. I don't like this at all."

"What are you talking about?"

"Come on, Jack. Hostage may have been a poor choice of words but it fits. You and I just...cleared the air and all. And now you saddle me with this? I suppose if I take it to the Autobots, you'll _never_ forgive me."

He said nothing. He didn't have to argue. They both knew what involving the Autobots would mean.

"I'm trying to understand this, but I'm your mom!" She held both hands out at her sides. "I'll risk anything to keep you safe. Anything. Even it means making you hate me."

"Ahh, crap." he groaned, looking away with a shake of his head. "I _really _wish I hadn't said anything now."

"Why did you then?" She crossed her arms again.

"Well...like you said. To be a little mean, I guess. To unburden myself. To share with someone who was there. To let you see how it feels to keep secrets." he glanced at her.

"Nice. And what's the secret to this whole 'hunting Airachnid alone' thing?"

"To keep it from the Autobots of course! To shut her mouth. _Permanently_."

"And so you think it's fair to make me privy to that? And force me not to tell Optimus? And let you go after the dragon-lady?"

"You can see the sense to it, right? Don't act like you don't." He alluded to that fateful night Airachnid had abducted her to get to him. How she meant to destroy team Prime with murder and lust.

"Not like this. What am I supposed to..." June stopped, her eyes going wide. "Did you point me back towards Optimus to get us both out of the way?" she said a little breathlessly.

"Yeah...I guess I did."

"You're hurting me, Jack." She stared at her son. When he didn't answer she fought down another lump in her throat. The darkness around them was deepening quickly and she knew they both had to go back inside soon. She was getting cold, but her heart felt colder.

"I guess you're still a little angry with me." she said quietly.

Jack sighed. "I'm _not_. I just have to do this. Like you said last week about yourself, _this_ is eating _me_ up. It's hard to keep it all straight. I wish I had...I had..."

June bit her lip. Jacked wished he had a partner. It wasn't her. It wasn't Miko.

"_How_, Jack. How am I _possibly _going to convince myself to let you do this?" She said. She couldn't tell him what he wanted to hear. It was impossible. And what was more, she wanted to say she couldn't just 'stop being a mom' but the thought of how she had cheated on her son with Arcee, albeit through Airachnid, turned_ those _words to acid in her mouth. But again she could see the web of half truths and secrets Jack carried. His burden ever since that night. And how both of them would never be quite so innocent again as they had been before. War is hell right? But this was a different kind of war for Jack. One where the blame and guilt could so easily fester and rot him from the inside out, just as it had once done with her. Turn all fuzzy and confusing and heavy. She saw how he was trying to steer through it all and triumph. To be a man. And how alone he was. She had apologized once for him having to carry this burden. Did she betray him now?

"I know what I'm doing." He answered in the time honored response of a grown adult to a parent that could no longer guide their child's fate. "And I know I'm stepping on some feelings to do it. But you'll have to get in line, because one way or another, if that bitch is alive, she's dead."

Oh, what bitter irony. June was stung by her own words. The words to Optimus about loving someone enough to let them risk everything for you. And for themselves.

Jack went on.

"Wrap your head around this then, too. She deserves it, okay? Don't think of it as a _mom_ because your worry and concern will trump you every time." He stared hard at her. "Understand that she _deserves_ it...and you owe her one too. Hostage was a poor choice of words, but it hit a nerve, right?"

June held still, letting that sink in. Jack could see it in her face now. He could also see she hadn't thought on it much these last two months, but she must have at _some _point. So what did she intend to do? Forget about it? Just mommy him instead? Rat him out?

June licked her lips a little, lost in thought for the moment. Then she shook her head.

"No. No, Jack, it's to dangerous. Not like this. You need help." She wished she could plumb out how he felt about the news with Arcee. He was steering her again. Wasn't she supposed to be doing that with him?

"I have help."

"_Autobot_ help."

"To what? Hunt down Cons? I've done it on my own before." He said quietly.

"What? What do you mean?"

"For some time now. Gone after other Cons. The Autobots think I've been tooling around in a dune buggy scanning for energon. Well..." He let the rest hang in the air.

"Oh, you're just _full_ of little surprises, aren't you?" She gave it her best frown. "And to think I was worried about gray hairs last week. You have anything else you want to add?"

"Look, there are many reasons why I'm _going_ to do this thing. _You're_ one of them." He said abruptly, sharply. He didn't call her mom. He wasn't talking _to_ his mom.

"I'm going to finish this. And you can either try and stop me as a mom...or give it your blessing as your own woman." he pulled his hands out of his pockets and stood there, waiting to see how she would respond to that.

"Did you tell me so I would try and stop you?"

He snorted. "I wish I was that dramatic."

And so there it was. What had happened, and what he felt today only fueled the fire of his resolve. He wouldn't stop and let himself think about anything else until Airachnid was made to pay. It was pretty obvious he meant to expunge everything in one fell swoop, and June wasn't above her own feelings about Airachnid. Part of her, from Jack's words, could feel the shame and humiliation she had suffered sexually at Airachnids hands. Part of her, quashed way down inside her all this time, had to grudgingly admit she felt the same way. Just a _little_ bit.

And here he was trying to convince her to let him go for Airachnid alone. Well it would _never_ be that simple. Only a mother would understand. But then she had to take a moment and look Jack in the eye.

She could see the hope he had carefully nurtured about this last ditch attempt to save Arcee was gone. It was rather startling to realize how changed he was in other ways too. And the thought came to her that even if she _did_ tell Optimus, that stillmight not stop Jack. Nothing would. Because he never _would_ stop. And what he had said to her...about being the woman this had happened to? How did she feel about that? She had come up here reflecting on how she was the other 'ill-used' person in all this. So how did she _really_ feel about that coming from her son?

_I'm being silly. I came up here expecting to find my son, but I found a soldier. I got to stop doing __that to him. But are you surprised?_

There was no one else up here. No reason to pretend what they already knew of each other.

_We may play nice with others, mother and son, but where do you think Jack get's it? The Darby __temper indeed. So what are you going to do, June?What are you going to _let_ him do? _

_ What do you _want_ him to do?_

"I ...I understand how tentative everything is. I know what's at stake and why you're being...secretive. And I know you mean to cap it all off by getting rid of Airachnid." she finally said.

"That's pretty much it." he rubbed his lip with his hand.

"And to think I came up here hoping to talk you into a hot supper."

"You told me last week when we talked you wouldn't say anything." He replied. "That when the time comes, what I say goes."

"I didn't mean it for something like this. Hunting Cons. Hunting Airachnid."

Jack leveled a look at her. "How many times are you going to make me say it, that this is the way it's going to be?"

He said it with some finality. And a moment later the sun disappeared with a last flash of light and evening settled in deeply over the land. It was out right cold now, up here on the mesa. But neither of them moved towards the door leading back inside.

There they stood, eye to eye, regarding each other. She with her arms crossed and a touch shorter than him. And he not budging an inch, his back straight and his mind made up.

So much alike and _more_ than just in looks.

Mother and son stared at each other for some time as the light faded away.


	39. Late Night Liaisons

**Late Night Liaisons**

Late at night sound carries. It carries because there's nothing else to stop it or get in the way of hearing it. The world is quiet. People are asleep. And everything you do feels amplified. And because of that, it lends a certain weight to your actions.

It was late now. Deeply late. In the witching hours after everyone was long asleep, and before anyone else began to stir anew. Even the earliest risers. When the world itself seemed to have closed it's eyes.

Jack's were open.

He sat at one of the several cafeteria tables all by himself. He had started out sitting on it, but soon hooked his legs through the seat and sat down properly. The book he was reading was thick, but the pages were light weight, and this meant there was more of them than one should expect.

It was the sound of turning pages you could hear. If you had been there to hear them.

Sometimes skipping ahead and sometimes turning back, Jack went through them methodically.

One by one.

**ooo**

"Hey kid, you're going to get fat if you keep eating that."

Jack turned to the speaker, his mouth full of day old doughnut again, with a cup of cold milk held in his other hand. It was agent Cindy, with her unique blend of solid muscle and sex appeal. She came into the cafeteria with her dress jacket slung over her shoulder, her glock in it's tough government issue holster at her side. As always, she walked with a bit of a swagger, even at this hour of the morning, a permanent bemused look on her attractive face. Jack always did like her up-turned nose, full features and wavy, chocolate hair. Her hips were a bit wide and she was a little short, but she had this voluptuous appeal he had never really noticed in a woman before. And with someone like her, she probably made sure to start the day by always undoing that one extra button on her white blouse so you could get a peek of lace bra.

Not that he minded that. Jack worked his jaw strongly, sipping the milk and letting it mush the doughnut stuffed in his cheek and he swallowed quick enough not to be caught looking silly.

"Well..." He wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. "It's you agent's fault. And I can worry off about two doughnuts worth a calories in an hour anyway."

Cindy stepped over and surveyed the open box on the table Jack leaned against, left over from yesterday. "Hard times, yeah. But I like sucking on sweet things during hard times."

She turned to Jack with a small roll topped in sprinkles. She didn't really want it. It was stale. But she bit into to hide her smile that Jack Darby choked a bit on his milk. He could have said something racy in return about tasting the cream or some such thing, but he just smiled and wiped his lip with his sleeve. Guess he was just still a kid after all. And Cindy was a little sleazy when she was horny and bored.

She sighed instead, shifting her own bite to her cheek now.

"These go right to my hips, though."

"You wouldn't know it to look at them." The little bastard smiled slyly behind the edge of his cup as he sipped some more milk. Agent Cindy's nipples tingled. She stopped chewing for a moment and reached for her own napkin from the pile at hand.

"Oh? How would you know? A kid like you?" she turned back.

"A kid wouldn't appreciate such a nice ass." He replied. That was new. This Jackson Darby kid wasn't usually so bold. But then, he wasn't a kid was he? She felt her heart speed up a little, attracted to Jack in how he was holding his own when faced with her boldness. Holding it and more. The little devil was teasing her back as good as he got. And here it was in the middle of the night to.

With no one around.

She took a step toward him, intimately closing the distance between the two of them.

"Sooo." she smiled, licking her lips, holding her treat and slowly looking him up and down. "You like looking at my ass, huh kid?"

He stared her right in the eye. "I'm not a kid." He smiled.

"Wanna prove it?" She asked. "Wanna take a bite of my...treat?" She held out the doughnut.

"Why does this sound like the beginning of a porno?" Jack was still smiling.

"Maybe it is." Agent Cindy's voice was thicker. "I kind of like the idea...Jack." She shifted to one hip, the move incredibly pulling her blouse just so to one side. Tightening it just so that it was obvious she had rather hard nipples under her thin lace bra. She looked down at her chest, holding her doughnut up and to the side. And then she looked up at Jack with a smile.

"Sure you don't wanna bite?" She smiled seductively.

"I didn't know you were so kinky."

"Wanna find out?"

"Maybe I do." He smiled.

She grinned. A woman like her was used to moving fast. She wasn't some spunky little asian chick and she wasn't the tragic working mom aching to be naughty. Cindy was tough and undaunted, taking what she wanted and fighting for more if she had to. But what surprised her now was the way Jack seemed...willing. Not that making a move on him was the _smartest _thing to do. But then he was what? Twenty? And being the lone agent on call tonight, roaming this damn old boring base. Well...she could do worse.

Still, she fully expected any second that her teasing would wilt him some and he would get all squirmy and make some excuse to bolt. It was fun doing that sometimes to younger man. A woman thing. But he _didn't_ bolt. He just kept staring at her with that level look. He was tall. And strong. Nice face. Hard eyes.

She liked that and _she_ was probably a little more nervous than _he _was. A strange feeling for a tough field agent like her. Then there was the news today about one of the robots. Something about the wounded one, right? Now she recalled that one had been Jack's partner and suddenly she felt a little foolish coming on to him.

_Good one, Cindy. Dork._

"Listen, Jack, I just..."

He set his cup down and reached out to cup both of her breasts. Agent Cindy didn't jump, but she was a little shocked. She blinked and looked down at the hands gently caressing her tits, and unnoticed, she dropped her pastry on the floor.

"I've thought about finding out more than once." He said. He was being all cool about it, but _his_ voice was a little strangled to.

Agent Cindy had a hand back around behind his neck a moment later, pulling his face down towards hers and she mashed her lips up against his.

Hard.

**ooo**

The door to the utility closest banged open and sent a mop and bucket rolling away. Agent Cindy backed in, pulling Jack's shirt out of his jeans as she did so. He, with one arm around her waist, fought with the door to get them both through it before he swung it shut behind them.

She was kissing him almost frantically, switching to tug at his belt, and Jack was about two seconds away from ripping her blouse open. She broke the kiss when her butt bumped up against one of the two metal shelves in the little room, looking down at his hands.

"Wait, hold it." She grinned, quickly undoing her buttons. "I can't ruin this shirt!" He was already leaning in, kissing her neck and she rolled her eyes upward, her fingers flying through the last two buttons.

Then her shirt was off and his followed. She grabbed him between his legs and chortled out a hungry little purr in his ear as he reached around her back to get her bra undone.

"You're really ready, you little devil. You'll never last!" She teased, sucking on his earlobe as she felt her bra come loose. She flung it off with a shake of her arms. He locked his hands backs around her naked breasts then, grinding himself into her hard. No mistaking what she felt there.

"Wanna bet?" he hissed.

Together they fumbled with each others pants, Cindy staring at Jack's lean chest and he at her surprisingly full breasts with their hard little pink nipples. She had freckles on her chest and he had a scar on his ribs. When they got his cock exposed, she leaned in and kissed the scar, running her tongue up to _his_ nipple.

"Shit." He groaned and she grinned against his skin, kissing and licking his chest. He would never manage what she had in mind to do, so she decided to stay on her knees and get some lovin'. She didn't mind. She was soaking wet anyway.

As he played with her bare breasts, she leaned into him with a seductive smile, looking up at him and showing off her pretty white teeth.

"Fuck me." She purred, her hands all over his cock. He was breathing hard, his face hungry and young, staring down at her with a tortured look of barely contained pleasure and trepidation.

Cindy turned suddenly under his hands, facing the metal shelves with it's bottles and rolls of toilet paper. Jack groaned as his cock traced around her waist to her full bottom, the material of her slacks a nightmare of friction. Then they both were fighting down _her _pants, working her butt cheeks free. Cindy bent over slowly, letting him relish how she looked. She let him take care of the rest as she looked down between her free swinging breasts and kicked her bra out of the way.

The place smelled a little dank. Like under a kitchen sink. And for Agent Cindy it made her feel cheap and slutty. Just like she wanted to.

"Fuck me." She moaned again, lifting her round butt to him as he yanked down her matching black bikini panties. His hands were all over her, his jeans splayed open and she looked back down between her feet to watch him step up behind her.

_Fuck yeah! He's got a nice dick! It's go time. _

She was dying for it. She knew she was kinda short, but she was limber, and she easily lifted herself up on her toes, her black slacks falling to her knees and showing off her hard muscled thighs.

When Jack pressed the tip of his cock into the tight dark patch of heat behind agent Cindy's muscled ass, he thought he would lose it right there. But he didn't, willing himself to hold back as he slipped his arms around her waist. He had never felt a stomach so flat and hard and he surprised himself by how much that turned him on. His brain was boiling now that his body had woken up and he wanted this now, with no questions asked. Of her or himself.

He gave a small grunt. So did agent Cindy. And as he penetrated her, she braced herself, her head hanging down and straightening her legs out in front of him as she bent over. This encouraged him to reach up and grab her breasts. They were full and luscious compared to the demure shapes he had handled in his life, and he could feel the weight of them in this compact, hard bodied woman. She smelled like sex and soap and water.

She pushed back against him as he began plunging into her. Flexing her out with a first wet thrust that they both could hear and feel.

"Uhh! Ah! Fuck yeah!" Cindy snarled, curling her fingers where she held onto the metal shelf. "Show me what ya got!" She cried, bouncing her ass against his lap.

Who's to say where it came from in Jack? Who's to say why he was doing this? Right then he didn't care. And show her he did.

He showed her for a full four minutes, there about. And by the time the fourth minute passed, agent Cindy had scattered the stacked rolls of toilet paper and was up on her toes again as Jack kept slapping against her bare ass. He was steadying them both as he held onto her sides, reaching down to grab a breast now and then. Cindy had pushed her face up against a roll of paper towels, her head almost under the shelf above her head and her elbows were high up behind her as she held on to the shelf. He had almost fucked her right off her feet.

"Oh, God! Shit! Fuck yeah! Yes!" she howled, taking her hand and biting her own palm. Then she did one of those silly, savage and somehow appropriate things that happen during sex. She grabbed the roll of paper towels with one hand and bit down on them. Hard.

The movement, the feeling, the heat, the radiating waves of her pussy being stretched out bent over like this? It wasn't every day that Cindy orgasmed from just penetration alone but she felt wicked-bad and was risking getting caught, fired and sent packing doing this with Jack.

She didn't care. It felt to damn good. It was such a thrill. And, best of all, Jack seemed to feel the same way.

"Oh fuck!" He said suddenly, and she knew the signs. Felt them through her body.

Agent Cindy's wet sex had dripped on the cement floor.

She looked back, her cheeks red, opening her mouth. "Do it!" she snarled, holding her paper towels, and then together they both let it happen. Cindy, almost sobbing in her own orgasm as she felt Jack's spurting rush deep up inside her, bit down on the paper towels again and let herself cum. Jack pushed hard, grabbing her waist, and for one incredible second, her toes even left the floor. She gave into her body with abandon, sobbing a little with it.

Then it was over.

They stopped so suddenly, as Jack let his body relax, that they stumbled a little. And then it was all heavy breathing and shaking muscles for them both. That slow recovery where they both came back to their senses.

Agent Cindy finally looked over her shoulder again and then held up the paper towels she had bitten into in her lust.

"Blech!" She stuck out her tongue and he laughed as he straightened up and slipped out of her. He was a gentleman enough to help her turn around and stand up, and as they stood there, practical as ever, Agent Cindy pulled off some of the paper towels and starting wiping them both off.

Jack shuddered a little as she happily wiped his steamy cock and then, shamelessly, she wiped herself as he looked on.

"Wow, tiger." She sighed, looking up at him as she reached behind herself, wiping her butt cheeks were he had been so warmly slapping against her.

"That was great." She smiled. She tossed the towels in a pail and took some more, pressing them between her legs and splaying her hips a little, concentrating.

"What are you..." He started, running his hands back through his hair.

"Hold on." she held up a finger, still focused on cleaning herself a little by flexing their love making right out of herself. When Jack realized that's what she was doing, he managed to find it in himself somewhere to blush.

She laughed at him as she stood back up and a few more paper towels made them as fresh as they were going to get. She didn't care. She liked this feeling of being well fucked and looked forward to spending the last few hours of her shift like this.

"Think anyone heard us?" She grinned, snapping up her panties and straightening them around her wide, strong hips. They were dressing themselves again and when Jack handed her her bra, she kissed him and they shared a few more smooches before getting back to the matter at hand.

"Well, if anyone knocks on the door it's not because they need a mop." He sighed and Cindy giggled. Then, wishing she had some gum at least, she started doing up her blouse as Jack pulled his shirt back over his head.

"Hey, speaking of which, you and the asian chick right?" she asked, undaunted.

He winced a tiny bit. And Cindy smiled.

"Yeah...kinda." He said shyly.

"Relax, Jack." She leaned up on her toes and kissed him one more time. "It is what it is. We just had some fun, right? You got enough things to punish yourself over."

"Noticed that, huh?"

"Ehh, you need some cheering up." She brushed at her shirt, waving him off.

"Everybody keeps saying that. But then, so did you." He slipped his arms around her and she brushed _his _shirt off a little, permitting him to hold her with her hands resting on his chest.

"You don't disappoint." she smiled, looking up at him and liking that young face of his. The one to young to look so old.

**ooo**

Later, Jack walked back into the cafeteria quietly. And he sat down again as if nothing untoward had happened at all. His book was still there. So was his cup of milk. And Cindy's doughnut was still on the floor. In another hour, the place would start to wake up.

So when he was sure no one else was going to walk in on him, he looked around, held still for a moment, listening, then he dropped his head into one hand.

_Oh, boy. What the hell was _that_ all about, Jack?_

He sat there for a moment but then he took a deep breath and straightened up.

_ You know what? Fuck it. _

On a day like today, he really didn't feel like arguing with his conscience anymore. Or his guilt.

He picked his book back up, looked at the cover, then at the wall.

_The women in my life. _He shook his head a little._ It's freakin' amazing considering the days I was so hand-happy over Sierra in the shower. One is a spunky little exotic goddess, another gives me urges I shouldn't have, and now a third voluptuous hard ass has the raunchiest sex with me ever._

He shook his head and looked down, lifting the book up.

_And there's two more to think about yet. Two more. _

He gave it a little shake. Jack Darby set the book back down on the table and started over. It was crisp and clean, the print small and involved. No one had ever bothered to read it before. He kept at it anyway.

One page at a time.

* * *

**NEW POLL! Please check my forum :)**


	40. Countdown

**Countdown**

You would think Miko would have used a tablet. But surprisingly she had a tiny bit of sentiment in her and she was using a clipboard and pencil. Down the list she went, walking slowly down the length of Jack's huge bed and checking things off. If she had anything to say about tonight, it was that she wished they had even _more _gear to work with. Not that she wanted to double Jack's body weight, she just wanted more options to choose from. But this was the best they had and really there was more here than Jack had ever appropriated before.

He on the other hand, was worried they may have taken a bit _to_ much. With Rafael and Miko on his team he had donned his Chameleon armor for a little midnight run to the government armory. He could have waltzed right in and filled up a shopping cart, it had been that easy. With all three of them lending various skills to the task, there was no security lock or system they couldn't bypass and what was more, watching him from his bedroom, Rafael and Miko had gotten temporary control of the cameras in certain areas of the CIA section. It had went off so smoothly it almost didn't seem real and he_ did_ have to resist 'goodie-grabbing' like Miko had carried on about.

Wouldn't do to be obvious at this point and each thing he took or 'borrowed' was just one more thing to be missed the next morning. That's why raiding the armory was called 'phase one' by Miko for if it went off smoothly, then every thing else planned for tonight was a go and Jack was going in after Airachnid.

They had two hours before 'cherry time' when Ratchet, who was as regular as a clock, would take some down time away from central and Rafael could access the main computer for their Hi-Jack bridging.

Hi-Jack bridging. He had to smile everytime he thought of it now. It was Miko's fault. She had made a joke of it and given the words new meaning. Probably because she had some romantic notions of Jack popping up out of nowhere and blowing Airachnid away.

"Hi, Jack! Boom!" She had cried, making them both laugh.

Even Rafael had taken to it and he was busy back in his own room with the Hi-Jack program now. As it was, time was ticking away and Jack worked furiously, with Miko's help, to get everything ready.

Sitting as the card table, he went through everything, leaving nothing to chance and as he worked he reflected on the last two days.

How strange it was, that the news about Arcee had helped everything fall into place to go after Airachnid. It had settled the matter in more ways than one. So much so, Jack felt a little paranoid that it was all going so smoothly.

Take the agents for example. He had thought he had screwed up when he 'screwed' agent Cindy but that had been her last night at the base for three days so _she _was out of the way. The other guy on call was as easy to avoid as any other and old Fowler himself was off the base and somewhere in Ohio. So the whole contingent wasn't a worry.

Then there was his mother. Miko had been as surprised as anyone when he told her what he had done.

"You told her!?" Her pretty eyes had gone wide.

"I told her enough. Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Jack, don't ya think that was a bad idea?" she stared.

"In more ways than one, but I was counting on..." He stopped and stared at her. "What?"

"You gave Rafael a lot of flak about keeping this hunt between the three of us. Don't you think you've betrayed our confidence a little by telling June everything?"

_ Betrayed you both. Just ask agent Cindy._

"I didn't tell her everything." he frowned.

"You just said you told her enough. Your mom's to sharp!" And so they had argued a little, like they had of old.

Jack had told Miko just that morning about unburdening himself to his mother. Miko may have been just weeks from turning eighteen, but she had felt a little lost in the whole debacle with Arcee's bad news. June's presence had probably eased her mind some the night before, but she was _dead _serious about the hunt for Airachnid and hadn't expected Jack to do what he had. Jack, secretly telling even more of his guilt to get in line, had talked her down and channeled Miko's upset into the immediate decision to go after Airachnid.

That was when he told her the last bit.

"No way." she snorted.

"Honest."

"June signed _off_ on this? For real?" Miko was genuinely shocked.

"I know my mom. I knew when I told her I could get her on board."

"No way." Miko repeated. "She should have run _straight _to Optimus!"

"I'm serious. She doesn't_ always_ necessarily run to Prime. She wants a little payback too." There was no arguing Jack was telling the truth. Or at least a version of it.

"Wow!" Miko had taken a few minutes to process that. "You know out of this whole thing, I would have bet money that would have been the _last_ thing to have happened. It just doesn't seem _possible_, what with Helicopter Mom and all. "

"I know, right? But them she let me go to Cybertron more than once. And to be honest, she's not with us one hundred percent. She thinks were _tracking_ Airachnid. Sniffing out her lair. She's picturing you and I tearing around in the dune buggy or some such thing so we can triumphantly bring it to the Autobots."

"She'd want to know _why_ we didn't include the Autobots though." Miko said immediately. She was sharp and fast.

"I told her about the benching. I told her I...I have to do this." At least that part was one hundred percent true. "Because of Arcee. So we got to move _now_ and wrap it up, you know?"

Miko had understood. After that, she didn't take much more convincing. His mentioning of Arcee had sealed the deal and she dove into the preparations to finally go after Airachnid tonight with relish.

"June's pretty cool." She had said after a moment and then she got back to work.

Jack winced a little inside.

_I'm getting pretty good at manipulating people. _

What Miko didn't know was the history June and Jack shared. _All_ of it. All the way to that fateful night with Arcee and what his mother was already privy to. She was clueless about the sexual relationships involving Arcee, Optimus and his mother and what Airachnid had really been up to because of them.

And what was more, Miko didn't know the _extent _of what Jack had confessed to his mother about Airachnid's location and how he meant to kill her. And that his mother wasn't going to stop him. Standing face to face about it last night, Jack had brought his mother on board, albeit very temporarily, by making it _personal_.

Now both Darbys wanted some pay back.

And while June hadn't said _no_, she hadn't _agreed_, either. Not vocally. Last night, up at the top of the base, by way of reply his mother had done a strange thing.

She had kissed him. Just like agent Cindy had. _That_ had been weird. And exciting. She had immediately stopped after a second, looking embarrassed, and Jack had embarrassed himself by feeling all those old urges come flooding back. She hadn't kissed him like that _ever_ and it's a good thing she hadn't done so under any other circumstances. Had that been the reason he had been so wild with Cindy a few hours later?

Jack shook himself back to the present. _Not now! For crying out loud, Miko, his mother, __Cindy...was there something in the water around here?_

But _because_ of that kiss his mom had went home and stayed there. And for the moment, she was out of the way.

Now Jack thought about Arcee again.

Arcee, in a heart-breaking way, had turned into Jack's 'Get Out of Jail Free' card. Or even better the 'Advance to Go' kind. Because every one had given him some room. Fowler and the agents had stayed out of his way, his mother wouldn't interfere with his revenge, Miko had been a rock, and best of all...there was Rafael.

Rafael felt incredibly guilty, no matter what Miko and Jack had said to him. He took it hard that he hadn't had any success with Arcee and he had been inconsolable for hours. He had put up a brave front but back in his room, when everyone had gone home, he had cried himself to sleep. But secretly Jack was relieved. Today, God forgive him, Rafael's sense of failure and loss had been handy for really locking him in to the hunt. He was cooperating beautifully, grim and determined in his own way to help Jack all he could now. He hadn't even questioned going after Airachnid so soon. Maybe he didn't want to.

_Manipulating someone with their feelings was easy to get used to, huh Jackee Boy?_ _Get in line, get in line. I have enough guilt for a ship full of pirates._

And then there were the Autobots. They proved to be the least of Jack's worries. They were all subdued and feeling tragic, for the loss of Arcee, while terrible for them, was not the first in their million year old war. You could have said they were so used to loss, they had a tendency to not be able to see anything else. And this closed off any curiosity about their human partners activity, only to be replaced with thoughtful consideration. They fussed over their human charges a bit more, but they really didn't get in the way for fear of being invasive. And then there was Prime. Be it Arcee or his mother, Jack couldn't say, but Prime immediately redoubled his efforts to track Airachnid and _all _the Autobots were in on it. Even Wheeljack. Most of them were off base already, tearing up the country side, and this was perfect for how Team Jack needed to 'borrow' the landbridge tonight.

But there's where it might get sticky. One of them might place a call to be bridged back, or worse, one of them might actually_ find _the bitch first. So, two night's later, Jack was going for it and this was it. Ratchet had been fussing over Arcee enough that it seemed like he would never leave Central Command, but there again, Jack had talked fast.

With Optimus present, he had conveyed some real sincerity that he wanted Arcee left out of the rejuvenation tube. He spoke of how he thought it would do her good and that maybe she could hear them. Spend time around something familiar. And that he wasn't ready to give up completely and let her body die. It was a little cheesy, though heart felt, and they hadn't had the heart to tell him any different. For the moment. And so she was still laying there on the exam table, hooked into a more permanent life-support system and dreaming her dreamless sleep, everything as it was the night before.

For the moment was right. _Everything_ was for the moment, and again he felt it all coming together to quickly and to smoothly to last.

_How much time do I have?_

As he finished packing his two backpacks, he felt a lump in his throat suddenly that he forced down savagely. That talk over Arcee's still body had been...awful. Hollowed him out even more.

_She wasn't dreaming a dreamless sleep. She wasn't even there._

His hands started to shake a little.

_Use it. Use it, Jack. Kill the whore. Cry later._

He took a deep breath and got up off his stool. Miko finished up her list and looked up at him.

"We're ready. All I have to do is strap all this shit on." He said, nodding at the bed. He held out his hand and Miko, without comment, passed him her phone. He looked down at it for a moment, noting the girlish stickers of little Japanese cartoon characters were worn away, the pink case cracked a little on one corner. She wasn't a girl anymore and through all his careful balancing acts, she was the one that was with him completely. He sighed, feeling guilt in every walk of his life. The new Jack Darby. The pervert. The killer. The heartless, cold bastard. He looked up at her, painfully regretting his impulsive antics with agent Cindy.

He lusted for agent Cindy, grade A bastard that he felt he was, but he was scared to love Miko.

Miko had grown still, feeling the weight of the moment settle in on them. Another thing was that through all of this, out of them all, _she_ was the one that didn't fool herself. Unlike everybody else who played along with Jack's notions, she believed Airachnid _was_ alive and that they _were_ going to find her. Even his mother must secretly harbor notions that Airachnid was dead, or there would have been a lot more hurdles in Jack's way. Together, this was the one secret he and Miko shared to make _this_ night happen.

And because of it, Miko held no illusions that Jack could very well end up _dead_.

They stared at each other, the silence in the bedroom growing.

Miko swallowed a little. "One hour to go. Are you hungry?"

"No."

"Are you scared?"

Jack wouldn't answer. It looked like she was fighting some tears.

"I should have made you my girlfriend." He said quietly, suddenly. Miko crumbled a little and put her small hands over her face. Jack walked over and put an arm around her.

She snuffled against his chest a bit and then, like all the women in his life, she locked down her tears and toughened up. She pulled back a touch, but not out of his embrace.

"There'll be time for that when you get back." She braved a smile, kissing his chin, the tears running down her flawless pretty face. He smiled back at her and later, when he was gone, she would cry for fifteen minutes straight. But not now. He looked so sad and worn out. She had tried hard to keep that at bay. Tried it through her body too. But they had never actually gone all the way. Not yet. Something held him back from her. She wasn't as special as she had come to hope. She had pulled even with Arcee and June and that was enough, but here she was, the one seeing him off on something truly dangerous.

"I'll be waiting." She smiled.

Jack smiled back for a second, kissed her quickly, and let her go. "We better get to Rafael's room and double check." He replied, slipping her phone into his pocket. Miko took up another small two-way radio from the card table and called Rafael, who for all intents and purposes was supposed to be in his room.

Jack picked up a few more odds and ends, filling a second backpack, turning away from Miko as she placed the call. That's when he noticed the book he had been reading these last two nights over on his bed stand.

He walked over to it and picked it up, feeling a strange surge of emotions. He flipped it open to a blue strip of paper that served as his one solitary book mark. His back was to Miko.

_And then there's this. What do I do about this? I'll have to worry about that when I get back._

"Jack, he's not there." Miko said.

"Maybe he's in the bathroom." he glanced up and then down again.

"Not Rafael. He's a computer jockey. He can hold it for hours. And he should have his radio with him anyway."

"In the bathroom?" Jack turned to her, grinning despite himself but then he sobered a little. She was right.

A coincidence that he should remember his book at this particular moment. Miko wasn't grinning either. In fact she looked a little nervous.

"Try him again."

And they both held still as she did so. Nothing. By now, even if it _was_ the bathroom, Rafael should have been there holding his pants up to answer the call.

"Again." Jack insisted, setting down the backpack and slipping the book into his back pocket.

"Nothing." She groaned.

"All right let's go find him. _Shit_." He hissed, heading for his jacket. "What's our time?" he asked as he handed Miko her own.

"We've got time." she said. "But he should still be answering." Miko was hoping this was all nerves and that Rafael would beep in any second so she could chew him out a little. But this wasn't a call to go get pizza. By the protocols he had wrote down himself, Rafael should be sticking to the plan. She tugged her jacket on and tucked the radio into one of own pockets.

"Dammit. Come on." Jack growled and they both headed for the door.

_...stay tuned for the startling conclusion to Countdown. ;)_


	41. Green for Go

**Green for Go**

"I had a feeling you would be here."

Rafael jumped, his head coming up and just missing the open panel on the back of the VR unit. He looked as startled and guilty as Jack had ever seen him and then he almost looked like he was going to cry.

Miko, trailing Jack, was secretly horrified. She kept looking around, on the look-out for Autobots or anyone else. It was strange that Jack had made a bee-line straight for Central despite her protests, and to her surprise, Rafael was indeed here.

"Oh nooo." the younger boy groaned. "What are you guys doing here?" he asked.

"What are _we_ doing here?" Miko hissed. "What are _you _doing here?"

"You don't have to whisper. Ratchet's not around and I'll know if he's coming back."

Jack slowed as he walked up to the VR unit, tearing his eyes away from Arcee.

"He left a little early, huh? All the more reason you should have answered us. We've been calling." Jack looked down at him and stared hard at Rafael, his eyes hard. Rafael swallowed with a little gulp, looking decidedly edgy.

"No, he hasn't gone to power down yet. He's back in supply. And...I left my radio in my room." he answered, looking miserable and setting down his laptop. He got up off his knees.

"What _for_!?" Miko shouted so loudly now, both Jack and Rafael winced at the echo. She dropped her voice immediately. "For cryin' out loud, Raf, what are we _doing _out here?"

"You guys are supposed to be busy getting ready. I thought I had a moment to..."

"To what?" Jack asked, stepping closer.

"I thought you would want some privacy, you know? And that I could take a quick look at some stuff." Rafael evaded.

"Whatta ya mean, _privacy_?" Miko fumed, blushing to her ears at the same time and Rafael wilted under their combined upset. Jack ignored them both.

"Alright, alright. So why come out here? What are you up to?" Jack looked at the VR unit and it's open access panel. Rafael just swallowed again. He started wringing his hands.

"What's so important you were banking on us being busy that you could leave your radio behind?" Jack pressed him.

"I was just..." Rafael began.

"Does it have something to do with chapter nine?" Jack slipped out the book he had stuffed into his back pocket.

Both Miko and Rafael looked down at his hand.

Jack held the instruction manual for the VR3. Well thumbed, and a little dirty already, after Jack's constant use these last twenty four hours.

Rafael pushed his glasses back up his nose. Miko said nothing, holding still and waiting. Rafael held up a hand and Jack slapped the heavy little white paperback down into it.

"You never cease to surprise me, Jack." The younger boy sighed, closing his hand around it and looking up.

"Nor you me." Jack smirked. "You wanna come clean? Before we're caught out here? It's chapter nine, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Rafael sagged a little.

"What's chapter nine?" Miko finally asked, curious enough to settle down and pay attention.

"I'm no expert, so Rafael is going to have to tell us. But I can understand some of what I read and there's an interesting chapter in there on something called Neural Interfacing."

"Phase two sub-dermal neural interfacing through the use of biometrics." Rafael sighed.

"What the hell is this all about, you guys?" Miko leaned in close.

"This machine was obsolete when it was finished, remember?" Jack looked at her. "Moth-balled. There _was_ no expert or technician that came with it after it sat in storage for a year. There was no need. And then it gets passed on to Fowler who didn't bother to have his people read the instruction book. But Rafael did."

"Will you stop making this sound like a plot from Scooby-Doo?" Rafael managed a frown. "You read it too."

"Enough to know why you kept this from everyone. Even me. Us." Jack replied, flicking a finger between all three of them to make his point. Both he and Miko stared at Rafael.

"What is it, Rafael?" Miko asked quietly.

"Well...using my program, it's a way to dive deeper into Arcee's brain." He answered simply.

"Oh wow." Miko gasped and quickly looked at Jack. He looked back at her. "They let us have such a thing?" her eyes were huge.

"Blame the government." Jack answered. "They think to big sometimes. To much paperwork and red tape and things like this are forgotten while the next unit is being built. Then someone else takes over the files and buries it even more. Going from warehouse to warehouse." he rapped on the VR unit housing with a knuckle.

"All the way to us." Rafael grinned.

"Why didn't you tell me? What were you hoping to do? Try it on yourself in secret?" Jack asked.

"Yes." Rafael answered truthfully.

"Why!? Jesus, Rafael, I should be pissed as hell."

"Come on, Jack. Take a look at this." and he bent down and slipped out a whole new different kind of cable from the machine, a green one with white stripes. And at one end there was a tiny little hypodermic needle, no bigger than a bee stinger. They both leaned in and looked at it. Miko squinted.

"Is that...a _needle_?" she asked.

"Just a little one. It goes in at the temple and it has it's own interface inside the software." Rafael explained, but his tone was a bit to mewling. It made the other two older team members react with shock and disapproval.

"Omigawd." Miko straightened up.

"For fuck's sake, Raf." Jack frowned, reaching out and taking the cable from him. He stared at the little plastic capped point.

"When did you think you had time to do_ this_?" Miko snapped, visibly upset again. "Tonight of all nights!?"

"Yes, tonight. After Jack headed out and Ratchet was powered down." Rafael summoned up some spine. "I came out here to prep things real fast like for later. Because we may not get another chance like this."

"But _I'm_ still here! What about me?" Miko was almost shouting again.

"I guess I was counting on you...giving me a hand?" Rafael sputtered out. It was obvious he hadn't thought things through very well. It was obvious he wasn't thinking more with his heart than with his head. One call to them on his radio. One little white lie and they wouldn't have known he was out here. Miko might have stopped him later, true, but Rafael seemed strangely determined.

"Look, if anyone knew about this,_ no one_ would sign off on it. Not even you, Jack." He challenged, turning back to the older boy. "I wanted to do my part."

"Oh, but you could sucker _me_ in. Thanks!" Miko was fuming again.

"Miko, let him talk." Jack put a hand on her arm.

Rafael looked deeply pained.

"Yeah, ok, they overlooked it and I read up on it. Enough that last night I knew what had happened. The VR matrix only took us in on the surface. It wouldn't go any deeper. It picked up on Bumblebee's mind easily enough because he was conscious and undamaged and his surface thoughts were right there being broadcast. Once we tried it on Arcee though, I knew if she was there, she was locked way down deep. Like cortical psychic patch _deep_! I kept it to myself. I got scared."

"Scared because you knew it was all up to you and they would never let you do it." Jack supplied the obvious.

"Exactly." Rafael agreed. "And that would be a horrible fucking nightmare for you. For us all!" Rafael was so upset he even swore. He turned to Miko.

"What Jack has said about the benching is right. We would have been sat down on folding chairs and lectured about all kinds of crap. And then made to watch someone else give it a try, in what? A year? Two years before they trained somebody? Would Arcee's living body last that long? Or how about if they never tried it at all? And then we would have gotten to live out the rest of our lives never knowing if it would have worked." he said it so passionately he even sniffled, tears in his eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Jack asked quietly, letting go of Miko and putting a hand on Rafael's shoulder to steady him.

"Because you were up before me this morning and you two were already so hell bent on going after Airachnid tonight...I didn't want to distract you. Didn't want to complicate things. I didn't want to get your...get your hopes again. Not tonight." Rafael looked on the verge of real tears and Jack looked around a little, collecting his thoughts. He didn't look at Arcee again. He didn't dare.

Rafael went on.

"I thought I could take a quick look. Go in fast. Round it out and see if it even works. Go _deeper._ Then when you got back, I could have something to tell you and we could go from there. Maybe even have something _great_ to tell you." The little wizard answered with such feeling, both Jack and Miko fought down a lump in their own throats.

"I knew I had a window to pop out here and make ready. Then after you bridged out, I would have a good half hour before you reached the first check point and yes, Miko, I thought I could get you to understand. Somewhere in there I thought I could pull it off." At that, spent, Rafael looked down and sniffled a bit more.

"You tried doing this all on the same night, because _you_ don't think I'll find Airachnid alive out there either. Do you?" Jack asked kindly.

"Not after seeing what happened to Arcee." Rafael started to cry, realizing what he had just said was as good a confirmation that Jack could get. That he _had _very likely killed them both, because it was Jack who had fried his partner. So Rafael had desperately hatched a plan to spare his friend such a loss for a second night in a row. Have something to present to him in triumph when he bridged back. Be a hero. Miko, to moved to be angry anymore, wrapped Rafael up in a hug instead.

"I'm sorry." he mumbled into the shoulder of her jacket.

Jack stood there, pressing on the plastic end cap on the little needle with his thumb, thinking. Slowly he looked over at Arcee as Miko hunched down and handed Rafael a tissue as the younger boy sat down on the floor and put his back to the VR unit.

Jack looked back down at his two friends.

"No need to be sorry, Rafael." He said quietly and Raf looked up. "I get it. I really do. I've dragged you two into this with me and we move around in the shadows. We have to take chances as they present themselves. It's not a pleasant feeling."

"And it's not your fault." Miko looked up at him. "We're doing what we have to."

Jack looked down at her, fingering the end of the cable some more and it's capped little needle. He seemed to be waiting for her to agree to something. Then she glanced at the needle and back up at him, nodding her head just once.

"Raf? How would this actually work?" he asked.

**ooo**

Once Raf had actually explained it, it was a damn good thing he had kept to himself. The Autobots and the CIA would have disconnected the thing, disassembled it, wrapped it up and shipped it out within an hour if he hadn't. And what he_ did _say was still enough to worry Jack and Miko sick, making it all to possible that Jack just might stop him after all. As it was, in the next hour, they nearly gave it up completely. Three times. It was all very technical and very scary, but Rafael held firm.

"Why would they put something like this in a machine for monitoring fuel pressures?" Miko frowned as she leaned over Raf's laptop. They were back in Rafael's bedroom, waiting for Ratchet to leave Central Command and power down for a few hours. They were watching him on a camera Rafael had planted, crowded around on their stools and hunched over the card table. When Ratchet left, operation Rafael was a go.

"Efficiency." Rafael answered. "It's an ironic word when applied to government thinking. Because they waste millions trying to see if a job can be done easier." he tapped away at the keys, reviewing his data on a side portion of his screen. "You know the old joke? NASA spent a million dollars inventing a pen that could write in space. The Russians used a pencil."

Jack, on his right, looked over at Rafael as Miko had to smirk.

"Nervous?" He asked the younger boy. Rafael turned to him and pushed up his glasses.

"A little. But _you're_ the one who should be worried. If we're caught or it doesn't work, our best chance for Arcee will be gone."

"You didn't say what the consequences would be if something went wrong. I could live with losing this chance if it meant you not getting hurt. "

"I'll be fine. And if you're okay with losing our last chance, then why did you read the manual?" Rafael asked quietly.

"Curiosity."

"Bull. You read it to hope." The younger boy smiled at him warmly and Jack sighed and shook his head, looking back at the screen.

"Still...needles. Side effects like epileptic fits. This is...bad." Jack chewed his lower lip.

"It _looks_ bad. Fowler said the whole thing responded better to a younger mind. And people with diabetes poke their fingers worse than this just to check their blood sugar."

"They don't poke themselves in the temple! My mom and the Autobots would have kittens over this."

"Kittens nothing." Miko looked over. "They would _freak_." Even she looked worried, having read through chapter nine with both Rafael and Jack three times. It still didn't sound any better. In fact, it sounded worse. "I don't know, Jack." She looked over at him, dragging the words out.

"Neither do I." he agreed.

"You guys, it's not that bad. And I'm the one trying it." Rafael protested.

"Exactly." Jack replied.

"Come on. It's just using the same biometrics that a lie detector does. EKG's and the like only a little stronger stuff. But it's the same principal. It's just to see if I can go a little deeper and look around."

"No." Jack said abruptly. "No way. Not like this. Not in the temple." he was putting a stop to it for the fourth time.

Rafael looked at him, crestfallen.

"Come _on_, Jack. You've given me plenty of reasons for why you act the way you do. And I've supported you. I can do this." He was resolute, so sure of himself. "One little prick of a needle and half an hour to look around...or you can try and run it past Optimus how our next best chance for Arcee is the cortical lab in the Decepticon warship."

On Raf's left, Miko raised her eyebrows and licked her lips. Jack looked from one to the other for a full ten seconds, at the wall, back at the laptop screen, and then finally at his feet.

"Fucking _needles_." he sighed, looking back up to watch Ratchet.

**ooo**

Rafael shivered as he lay back on the gel pads without his shirt. Ratchet was off to his quarters and it was up to Miko to monitor the small cameras that Rafael had set up for their covert activities. She had to keep one eye on all the hallways and one eye on the main computer, while Jack would get Rafael hooked up and be standing close at hand to have Rafael walk him through the program from his laptop.

Everything hovered on a razors edge. This was worse than bridging out in secret. Out here they were too exposed and Jack, having decided to hold off going after Airachnid for the moment, knew they were using up a tremendous amount of their luck. It may have been pretty late at night, but still they hadn't planned a thing. Any of it. It all seemed to much hope and not enough brains. Not enough caution. But then Rafael was the brains and he was adamant about going through with it.

Jack kicked himself for going along with it too. But the more they went for it, the more hopeful he was getting. Indeed Rafael had fanned up one more ember of hope inside him and now he couldn't do anything else until he knew for sure about Arcee. If Rafael was successful, Jack Darby would be standing right here for it. Unbidden, he even dared to picture Arcee waking up. Or just as good, having some news to take to the Autobots that they could not deny. They would be disappointed that Rafael had gone ahead and done this, but if he was right it wouldn't matter. With Arcee and Jack Darby's feelings for her, the means_ did_ justify the ends.

The only difference would be if they found Arcee in there, it might dull his desire to kill. Or if something happened to Rafael, it would strengthen it. He fought down his hope and sobered up a little.

_What am I doing? Am I going to far? It's slipping away from me now. Just like that I'm running out of time. I've put off going after Airachnid three times and now here I am fingers and toes crossed on a long shot. We're so exposed. What am I doing?_

Rafael, laying on his couch, must have read this in Jack's face and catching his eye he nodded firmly to the older boy.

"I can do this." he said.

Jack hesitated and then pulled open Rafael's backpack. "Gawdammit." he growled, yanking out the first aid kit.

Step by step, the manual covered how to hook Rafael up as they had the night before. Step by step, taking fifteen minutes, the three of them pulled everything up and got it running. Rafael, redirecting most of the commands through his chair, was typing rapidly, pulling up one window after another and bar coding them to the user manual.

"Check. Check." Jack answered, setting down the book and going for the green cable. Seeing the needle, held now in the center of a round styrofoam pad that was sticky on one side, he hesitated again. It may have been tiny, but _any_ needle under _any _circumstances looks like a javelin when it comes time to stick it in. Rafael stared at him with dark wide eyes.

"Jack..." He said.

"Fuck this. I can't do this. Get out of there, Rafael." He lowered the cord and turned to shut everything down.

"Jack! _Please_!" Rafael reached out and took his wrist. He turned to Rafael, as close to tears as he had ever come in almost three months.

"How did this night turn into this?" Jack groaned. "Dammit Rafael, everytime I am ready to go after that bitch, something or someone stops me."

"Maybe they want to keep you safe." Rafael smiled.

"At the expense of risking my little brother?"

"Don't make me start bawling, Jack. I have to focus." Rafael smiled.

"I'm scared of doing this."

"I can do it." Rafael set his chin, his eyes flashing. "_Let _me do it." He asked with feeling.

"Why _are _you doing this, Raf?"

"Because I know you love her." The younger boy smiled again. It was so easy for Rafael and how he felt for Bumblebee. He was innocent. Naive. And a brave little genius. After a moment, Jack tore open the small alcohol swab from the first aid kit.

He felt like throwing up when he swabbed Rafael's temple. And then with a piece of white medical tape, he took the needled cable, strengthened his will, and pushed the pad up against the younger man's skin. Rafael winced just a little, then it was done.

"Ow." He smiled wanly, looking up. "Jesus, Jack. You look green. Don't throw up, it will make _me_ throw up."

Jack managed a chuckle, his knees shaking as he pulled a blanket up over Rafael. For this procedure there were ten more leads pasted all across Rafael's chest and stomach and they seemed to have gotten them right.

"Now the hood." Rafael nodded and Jack slipped the fine copper mesh hood over Rafael's head. This was the special liner found sitting inside a lead lined bag inside the VR unit that Rafael had retrieved. It was necessary for the interface. At each step, at each and every single lead, Jack almost called it off, but surprisingly Rafael's will was carrying him through.

"It feels like I am hooking you up to a fucking electric chair!" Jack fought another lump in his throat.

"Steady, Jack. It's just a big video game."

"_Bullshit _it is."

"Come on, Jack. Worst parts over. We're going to find her, I just know it." the helmet lowered down over Rafael's head.

"I'm gonna puke." Jack groaned.

"Stop that. Come on, man. I need ya. We can do this."

"I wish mom was here."

"We can do this!" Rafael insisted. Jack felt weak, he was shaking a little. He felt sixteen again.

He felt _damned_.

Miko came over then, announcing everything was ready and they were still in the clear. She came over just far enough to look around the side of the VR unit and down at Rafael, her own resolve tentative. If she had watched the needle and hood part? All the leads? Yeah, no way they would be doing this. She looked nervous and kept glancing at Jack.

_Shit. Fuck. Damn. Hell. _

Jack growled, picking up Raf's laptop and sitting down with it in his lap. Miko headed back to her seat, pulling up close to Centrals computer and making ready on her end.

"Thirty seconds." Rafael called out.

They were some of the longest of Jack Darby's life.

"Fifteen." Rafael said, the screen of his VR helmet suddenly swirling in patterns like it had before.

The seconds ticked by and then, all three of them watching the count down on their separate screens, they finally engaged the program.

**ooo**

In his lifetime, two things tied for the most horrible moment in Jack Darby's life.

One was when Airachnid revealed herself inside Arcee. Glowing purple eyes and all. And the second was when Rafael Esquivel had a five second seizure when Jack hit 'enter' on his laptop.

"Jesus fucking Christ!" Jack cried, jumping to his feet with the laptop clutched in his hands. The horror twisted his face up, watching as Rafael shuddered from head to toe. His teeth were clenched hard.

"What!?" Miko cried. "What is it?!" she was off her stool and running over. But by then, Rafael had dragged in a breath and was looking around inside his helmet.

"What? What is what?" He echoed, coming out of it. "I'm ok. I'm ok. It's all right." he said, swallowing hard.

Jack straightened up with a deep breath, turned, held the laptop far out to his right, and vomited weakly on the floor to the left.

"Plu-uuh!" He spat.

Miko pulled up, her face pale. "Omigawd. Jack!" She moaned, rushing the rest of the way over to him then and trying to take the laptop and help him sit back down.

"Oh no." Rafael moaned as he heard. "Jack?" he was looking around, his face hidden by the helmet so they could only see his mouth. "Jack?"

"Jesus Christ almighty." Jack sagged onto his stool, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket and looking at them both with bloodshot eyes. Some shocks were just a bit to much.

"_Fuck!_" He snarled. Miko whimpered softly, hugging his head to her chest and feeling his pain. She held him steady, ignoring the smell and feeling him quiver.

"Ohhh." She moaned, sympathetically.

"I'm ok, you guys." Rafael called out, lifting up an arm. "Are _you_ two all right?"

"We're okay. We're okay." Miko turned, taking Rafael's hand, the other clutching Jack's shoulder. She held on to the two most important boys in her life. "We're okay, right? Right?" she fought back her panic and her own tears.

"I'm patched in." Rafael replied, lowering his hand as Jack gulped air weakly. "We can proceed."

"No fucking way." Jack said in a rough voice, spitting and swallowing away the acid taste of bile.

"We can!" Rafael insisted. "Look at the monitor."

Miko and Jack turned to the huge flat screen and it was immediately apparent they were on to something.

There was no milky fluid stretching forever in a strange timeless limbo.

It was a desert, complete with rocks, sand dunes and sun.

"It...it feels warm." Rafael smiled.

It was Nevada.

**ooo**

"It tickles. It's warm though a little numb." Rafael said again, his little pixeled avatar scooping the sand up and letting it sift back through his fingers. "Kind of like handling things when your fingers are asleep, you know?"

"It's still empty." Jack said, looking over at Miko who was back at her station. She was watching the screen too, her excitement at war with her concern. She glanced at Jack and gave him the thumbs up.

"We're still good." she called.

"It's not empty, it's different." Rafael went on. "It's good sign, too. It's Earth and not Cybertron. It's a recent memory." It was strange to hear him talk through the TV screen and from his couch at the same time. His figure was looking around at the sand dunes. He started climbing one.

"It might not be a memory. It could be just how the unit is showing the data through this new set up." Jack noticed.

"I don't think so. This is different input. From inside Arcee. If I was at the same level, it would still just be the milky swamp again."

"You don't know that. It's still just as...empty." Jack sighed, his stomach hurting him.

"Please, Jack. We gotta look around. We gotta try." Rafael answered, his tiny figure wiping his forehead with a sleeve.

"We gotta _hope_." Miko said and Jack looked over at her.

"Oh, wow!" Rafael cried and Jack and Miko turned back to their own screens which were linked with main display. Rafael was running through the sand, across the top of the dune and up to what looked like bones. Steel bones.

"Oh wow, look at that!" He said again.

It looked like the vertebrate of a huge steel lizard. A Dragon. A snake. A dragon-snake. Something. And it looked dead, it's long segmented length half buried in the sand.

"It's like that scene out of Star Wars." Rafael called out, excited. His voice was over loud. He was compensating for how he felt he was outside. The neural interface was working it seemed. He could sense things in a vague way. Light, hot, cold, even a little bit of smell. He even sneezed once.

"See? That's input sourced in from Arcee, not us." he went on.

_Yeah, and it's bones. Metal bones. Something dead. _Jack grimaced. Miko seemed to get it too and she looked over at him with her own sick expression. Rafael was a second behind them.

"I know what you guys are thinking but..."

"Rafael..." Jack began.

"Oh shit, did you see that?" Rafael said suddenly. They turned back, seeing his tiny avatar lift up a hand and block out the sun. Some distance away, all three of them could see the hazy blood colored outline of cliffs. And even as they watched, they could see six tiny spots of darker color. And they were moving.

"Something's moving over there!" Rafael called out, his excitement growing "That has nothing to do with me. There's movement!"

"Rafael hold still." Miko called.

"Why?"

"Just hold still." Jack followed up. "Just watch. See what happens."

All three of them watched the horizon for another ten seconds.

"Dolphins." Miko said suddenly.

"What?" the two boys called out.

"It reminds me of dolphins." She went on. "Something's coming your way Raf and it's swimming in the sand."

"Jesus, she's right." Jack sat up. "Six of them." Even as he watched he could see the elongated shapes breaching the sand like water and diving back in.

"There so far off." Rafael observed, shading his eyes with both hands now in the projected VR glare of the sun.

"They've gotten bigger." Miko looked over. "A _lot _bigger."

Jack Darby stood up again, his blood running a touch cold.

"It's more of those _things_! Like what's laying in the sand. Rafael, get back down off the dune. Come back over to the starting point."

"Umm." Rafael said.

"Just do it." Jack said, the urgency in his voice growing. Rafael turned, still shielding his eyes.

"The lights getting to bright." He complained. And indeed it was. Glaringly so. Flashing. Just like that the sun inside the matrix began to strobe a little in the sky. Rafael began to shift on his couch. "To bright. To bright! Jack?!" he called out, his alarm growing. "I can't see. My eyes are watering. I can barely hear you guys." The VR machine was humming now, like with some kind of feedback.

Jack grit his teeth, fighting his rising panic. Miko was on her feet now too.

"Something's _wrong_!" Jack hissed at her. Miko looked back at the main screen.

"It's like those things from Beetlejuice!" she let out rather unwisely. Rafael's nerve was slipping.

"I wanna get outta here." he said called out suddenly. "The sand is hissing at me."

Jack looked up at the main screen. "Turn around about twenty degrees. Can you see that rock? Turn around and walk ahead a little."

"It's to bright!" Rafael cried again. His avatar stumbled.

"Don't panic, Raf. You gotta get down off that dune and come back to square one."

"I can't see!"

"The light's going off the scale!" Miko pointed. The monitors _were_ washing out, the contrast was bleeding everything out and about to trap Rafael in a bubble of pure white light. The screen began to swirl around a little.

"My head hurts!" Rafael cried suddenly.

"Damnit!" Jack turned to the VR machine and pushed the arm for the helmet aside. He hovered over Rafael.

"They're screaming." Rafael's voice sounded scared. Very scared. He was shaking on his couch.

It was true. Whatever was coming _was_ screaming. A wailing pitch of noise over the hissing wash of sand. They could all hear it now and see the dragon-snakes breaching the dunes. Curving, diving, swimming...and coming straight for Rafael. It was like everything inside the VR matrix was drawing from several horrifying scenes out of the movies all at once. The screams changed to laughter. A demonic cackle of blood lust as they had spotted him. Like hyenas.

Jack had Rafael by the shoulders now, his eyes locked on the main viewer.

"Don't panic. Get off that dune. No, get _up_, Raf!" He cried as Rafael's bleached out little figure fell in the sand. "Get up! Shut your eyes and listen to me. Turn around and come forward."

Miko screamed. The first time Jack had ever heard her do so. A scream of real horror.

The snakes burst up out of the ground with a blast of sand, coating Rafael and knocking him down again. They broke to the left and right, still giggling like hyenas and circling Rafael's struggling little figure, a whirlpool growing in the sand around him.

Each one of them had the head of impossibly long snouted reptile, their mouths filled with translucent needle like teeth. Their bodies were a jet black steel, the pale sand washing off them like water, and the sinister way they swam was terrifying. But their eyes. Their eyes glowed a deep rich, dark purple.

"It's her!" Miko cried, backing away from her computer and turning to run for Jack. Rafael began to give out a keening little whimper of fear. His arms fought Jack. He was thrashing around on the couch, his senses assailed.

"Close your eyes! Don't look!" Jack shook him, his own eyes still locked on the screen.

"It's Airachnid!" Rafael cried.

"It's not her. It's another _trap_. Run, dammit! Run, Rafael!" Jack cried, shaking him. He tore his eyes away from the screen and looked down at his tortured friend. "Get out of there!"

Blinded, Rafael's little figure struggled in the sand. The largest of the dragon snakes snapped around and reared up. Even as Jack watched, it's mouth opened impossibly wide.

It hissed and Jack felt his flesh crawl. It would swallow Rafael whole and God only knows what would happen to him then.

Miko slammed into him, her hands tearing at the sleeve of his jacket. Rafael screamed, a terrified wail of pure terror. Louder than Miko had.

"Do something!" Miko cried, pulling at Jack's arm. He had no choice. No choice at all. It was either stand there and watch Rafael be torn apart, or do the only he could do.

Jack Darby turned and grabbed the green wire leading up under Rafael's helmet.

And then he ripped it out.


	42. Busted

**Busted **

Miko was whimpering. Crying openly. But she was keeping her feet and managing to support Rafael as she and Jack carried him down the hallway between them. Good thing Rafael was the smaller of the three and that she was rather strong for her size.

"Shit. Shit!" Jack hissed, Rafael's arm over his neck and moving as fast as he could.

Rafael moaned, blood streaming down his lips and dripping on the floor from his nose. A thinner line of blood curved down his cheek from his temple and dripped off the side of his face. Jack's hands were covered in it.

"Omigawd." Miko moaned, drawing the word out.

"Don't look at it." Jack snapped and then he stopped suddenly, pulling them all up short. "Miko, listen to me. Go and get Ratchet. Get the agent on duty. Get everybody! Call my mom!" He reached back and grabbed Rafael by the back of his belt and hoisted him off from around her shoulders. She sniffled, pale, shaken, dropping Rafael's arm and wiping at her face with the back of her hand.

"Everyone?" She mumbled.

"Everyone! Just get everyone!" Jack cried. Miko looked at them both, then she seemed to compose herself, still wiping at her tears.

"Right. Ok." She brushed a hair out of her her face, leaving a tell tale streak of Rafael's blood on her cheek. She was terrified but she was listening.

"Get the agent on duty first! He's closest. Then find Ratchet!" Jack added as Miko immediately sprinted away. To her credit she didn't blubber, break down or beg the obvious. She just ran off as fast her legs could carry her.

"Come on, let's go." Jack said to Rafael, turning back down the hall. Rafael stirred weakly.

"Whazzhammend? Mmmh?" He spit blood a little, mumbling. At least he was talking, although he was in some kind of shock. He was shaking a little.

"Rafael, stay awake. Don't pass out!" Jack implored with him, dragging him along and finally making it to medical, where he kicked open the door and hauled Rafael inside.

He was breathing hard, hauling Rafael into the room and over to an exam table. Thought better of it, and turned to drag him over to a cabinet of drawers instead. Bodily holding Rafael up and tearing them open, he found a stack of towels and gauze and started wiping at Rafael's face, shaking him some.

"Stay awake! Don't fall asleep!" He cried and Rafael's eyes fluttered. He coughed a little again and Jack leaned him forward so the blood wouldn't go down his throat. He pulled him over a step to the sink and nudged a facet on, soaking a towel, working fast to stay ahead of the blood running from Rafael's face.

It seemed to be lessening, but dark patches of color were forming around Raf's eyes like two black eyes were setting in. He had lost his glasses. He looked absolutely terrible and Jack fought down his panic, cleaning his face and staunching the blood out of his nose.

"Breathe through your mouth. Stay awake!" He shook Rafael again, holding him over the sink.

"Hmmm?" The younger boy's head lolled around weakly, his eyes blinking. They were bloodshot. Then he threw up, Jack holding him up as best he could. The counter top was a mess of watery red blood.

"Jesus!" A man's voice cried. The agent was there, looking shocked, but he quickly regained his composure and came hurrying over.

"What happened here?" He asked, grabbing Rafael and leaning over to look at him.

"My mom's a nurse." Jack grunted, hefting Raf up. "She's on her way. We can't lay him down!" He cried as the agent made to take Rafael from him. "Take his arm. Help me keep him up. Keep him awake!" He groaned.

The man _did_ listen, but his face betrayed his surprise and upset as he slipped Rafael's other arm over his shoulder and took up some of the weight.

He and Jack started circling the table, Rafael's nose running freely again as they forced him to walk.

"Jesus." the agent hissed again. Jack's arms ached but he wouldn't stop. He kept shaking Rafael and shouting at him and the agent began to do likewise.

"Come on, kid. Stay awake!" he said.

They all kept moving, in a circle.

"Stay awake. Stay awake." Jack repeated, like a mantra, over and over.

**ooo**

Jack slammed into his room, Miko right behind him

"Oh my God, Jack, what are we going to do." She groaned, pushing the door shut behind them.

Jack went right over to the kitchen sink and turned it on, shoving his hands under the water and scrubbing hard.

"Let me think." He growled, his mind working at a furious rate. Thank God Rafael hadn't slipped into a coma or something. In fact, he _had _stayed awake and had come around a little bit. Enough so that he was lucid and even asking questions when Jack's mother had finally showed up.

Now _there_ had a been a moment.

Once his hands were clean, Jack splashed water on his face as Miko stood there, trying to compose _herself_ in what way she could. She even handed him a towel and he scrubbed at his face. She still had a smear of Rafael's blood on her cheek and Jack might have thrown up again if his stomach hadn't been so empty. As it was, he stood up and came over to bundle her up in a hug.

Miko's lip quivered and she sank her head against his chest for a moment. He leaned back and stared into her face.

"He's going to be ok."

"People always say that!" She snapped, refusing to break down, and pushing away from him a little. Sometimes he forgot just how tough Miko really was. She was holding up better than he was.

"Well, you saw him." He let go and reached up to wipe at the blood on her cheek with the wet end of the towel. At least she let him do that much, a fat tear or two rolling down her face. It was a hellish moment for them both.

"He was sitting up and talking. Hell, he even smiled." Jack went on, his own face still very pale.

"Jack, he was scaredshitless. He's in some kind of shock!" she cried.

"Well gawdammit, he was awake!" Jack snapped and stepped past her. "Stop twisting the knife!"

"What are we going to _do_ then?" She implored with him, turning around as he walked over to the card table full of gear. "Airachnid was in there!"

"That wasn't _her_." He snorted. "If she had been in there, do you think she would have laid around sleeping for two months? It just like her cave. A parting shot! A final 'fuck you'." He snarled. Neither of them were thinking clearly as to what that could mean. There was still no proof about Arcee. Now there was only more fall-out.

"That fuckin' bitch." Jack growled, tears in his eyes.

"Jack, your mother. She's...she's bound to..."

"I don't know _what_ she's going to do. Or say. But I can take a guess. She's going to take one look at Rafael and all bets are off." He kicked one of the stools. "Fuck!" he cried, hating himself.

It had been hard to get a read off his mother. But then she was a nurse. Medical professionals kept themselves wired tight in an emergency. More for Rafael's sake than anything, but when Rafael wasn't looking, June had looked over at her son just once.

It was the first time he couldn't read what he saw there.

_I should eat something just so I can throw up again._

Miko sniffed and came over to him, hesitating, her own mind a whirlwind. It was true. With that one omission, it was obvious to them both what would happen now. There was no explaining this one and everything would be exposed. 'Snowball' as Jack always put it. There would be no covering it up either and the impulse to so do suddenly made Miko feel dirty.

"Jack, we gotta say something."

Over head the lights flickered a little and Jack looked up.

"The Autobots are coming back." He sighed, turning away, dejected. "Fowler too, probably. And we left everything scattered all over Central."

Miko gave in. It was sinking in hard how the things they had kept from the Autobots had led to this. She was torn in two how she wanted to finish this thing with Airachnid, but like with most unexpected accidents, it zapped her resolve and made her take a hard look at reality. And at her own involvement.

"June will _have_ tell Optimus about what she knows." She said quietly.

"Ya think? That's just for starters. And Rafael is all fucked up and out of it. Who knows what he will say."

"So what are we going to _do_?"

He looked over at his gear and it all seemed to hit home.

"Jesus, I've ruined us all." Jack groaned and slumped down on the end of his bed. "All my fine talk about being benched. About not being treated like kids." He scoffed. "There'll be official reports, Fowler, Raf's parents, Mom, the Autobots. And about a million questions." He shook his head and then dropped it in to his hands. Miko, at a loss for what to do next, came over and quietly sat down next to him, facing him.

"We found activity inside Arcee." She offered.

"At the expense of putting Raf in the hospital. We triggered a booby trap." Jack raised his head and lowered his hands. He didn't look at her he just stared at the floor. "You know what's going to happen now? Fowler will pack that thing up and stick it in a warehouse like at the end of Indiana Jones and the Autobots will stuff Arcee back into that tube again and never let her out." He shook his head, completely miserable. "And either way you look at it, I'm done at the base. They might even arrest my dumb ass if the Autobots don't kick me out first. "

"Don't talk like that."

"Shit, I wouldn't be surprised if someone knocks on the door in a couple of minutes with some cuffs."

"Don't say that!" she cried.

"Why not? Raf's a minor. So are you for the next three weeks. And when everything comes out, let's not forget my sticky fingers and all the crap you see in here!" He gestured behind him at the bed and scattered gear. "Not to mention Airachnid and the Con ambush unit in Rafael's room. Just wait until the Autobots find out about _that_ one!"

"Is there no way to...to keep this..." She was fishing for something, anything.

"You wanna try selling them something now? All of them together? Be my guest." He scoffed. "And even if we _could_ divorce the two, _mom_ knows. Remember?"

"Dammit, you _never _should have told her!" Miko slapped the bed.

"Well, no shit!" he snapped back.

They sat there, glaring at each other and then Jack deflated. He looked at the floor again.

"It's finished. In trying to hunt down Airachnid, I've ruined team Prime."

"Jack, no." Miko pleaded. "How? We were just trying to..."

"Miko you have no idea what's coming. When it all comes out, I don't think any details are going to be spared. You think the shit's hit the fan already? There isn't a metaphor _big _enough for what's coming."

The door opened and June walked in.

**ooo**

Miko stood up, her eyes wide and cringing inwardly at the Deja vu she felt. Jack didn't move or make a sound he just stared. Of course, circumstances were different this time. Plus all the illicit gear that was laid out in his room and Rafael laid up in medical.

So yeah, circumstances were definitely _worse_.

June said nothing, she just shut the door and walked over. She offered no excuse for walking in or interrupting this time and it was still hard to get a read off her. He envied her the will power she could exert in the face of a medical emergency and that was the mom he was dealing with now, not the guilt ridden victim from two nights ago.

"What happened?" She looked directly down at Jack where he sat. She was standing there working her fingers a little but she didn't seem angry. Miko, for all her inner fire, realized that this was one moment where she better just shut up and listen. Jack stared at his mom for a minute and then he sighed.

"We accessed Arcee using a neural setting on the virtual reality machine. Rafael and I discovered it and he worked out how to use it. But Airachnid set a booby trap and these...things came after Rafael. They were affecting him physically and he couldn't find his way out. They were going to kill him so...so I ripped the wire out."

Miko winced as she listened.

June looked over at her. "Miko will you please excuse us for a moment? I need to talk with my son."

"But..." Miko started and June looked her in the eye.

"Miko, I know about Airachnid. I need to talk with Jack and I need you to go down to medical and be with Rafael."

"But..." Miko stopped. She felt fifteen again. She took a breath, facing June and recovering some of her resolve.

"_I'm _not going to say anything." She had the nerve to declare.

"I haven't said anything _either_." June's eyes flashed.

"Jesus Christ, if you two start fighting now, I'm going to jump out my window." Jack groaned.

"Is Rafael okay?" Miko snapped, frowning.

"He has two black eyes and a headache." June answered. "And...well his bloody nose will need some cauterizing I think."

"What else?" the younger woman pressed.

"As soon as Fowler gets here, we're taking him to the hospital in Jasper for a CAT scan. You can...well, that's why I need to talk with Jack." June meant to say more but was holding her patience. "Alone, please." she turned to stare at him where he sat.

What could Miko do? Not to much. She wasn't going to medical though, because strangely she didn't want to face the Autobots. She would sit in the hallway across from Jack's door and wait to be called back in, trying not to be sick at how she was staying away from Rafael and wondering why she felt so conflicted.

**ooo**

The door shut behind Miko and June let out a sigh.

"Has Optimus come back?" Jack asked immediately.

"Yes." She answered, turning back to him, her voice level and in control. She didn't look to frazzled, seeing as how she was pulled out of bed at four in the morning to find Rafael bleeding out.

"Have _you_ said anything?" Jack asked.

"Not yet." She looked around a little at his room.

"But you're going to." he replied. It wasn't a question.

"You know I have to." She frowned, looking down at him again where he sat.

"Why haven't you then?" he sighed and picked at the laces of one boot, not wanting to look her in the face.

"I wanted to come talk with you first." She came over now and sat down on the bed next to him just as Miko had.

He looked over at her. "Why?"

"To give you a chance." She answered.

"Why is it I don't think that means a chance to go after Airachnid?" He snorted, turning away.

"A chance to decide what to do."

"Not much I can do. This place is going to turn inside out." he said, staring hard at his door.

"Well, the way I look it, all that's left to you is a measure of damage control." June advised. "All you can do is come clean and explain what happened." She was secretly giving her son the once over. He was pale, nervous. He might have thrown up. His hands were shaking a little, but he was more or less all right.

"Has Rafael said anything?" Jack rubbed his eye with a finger.

"No. And what he will admit to, he swears up and down was his idea."

"Fowler is going to lose his mind. I suppose it would sound cowardly to admit that it actually _was_ Rafael's idea."

"Jack, you have wanted to be taken as your own man and I have done so. But what you three did tonight was wrong. _You_ should have known better."

"Yep. I sure as hell should have." He agreed with a weary shake of his head. "I'm only saying so because I went along with it completely. I knew what I was doing. It was another chance to find Arcee. It was our last chance to get some answers. Raf knew the Autobots and Fowler would never let us try that neural stuff."

"And they would have been right. To bad you had to find out this way." She pursed her lips, all disapproval and steady nerves.

"Have you come in here just to break me down?" He snapped, turning back to glare at her. "Shouldn't you get back to medical? Someone else can come collect my head."

"Not until we talk. And there's two field paramedics with Rafael." She didn't even flinch.

"Jesus, I guess when I told Miko to get everybody, she didn't mess around."

"Stop avoiding."

"I hate it when you tell me to stop avoiding. I'm not avoiding!" Jack scooted back a bit on his bed.

"It's what you've been doing for weeks." June replied levelly.

"What I've _been_ doing for weeks is trying to save team Prime. Or have you forgotten what a sexual scandal would do to everyone? Hmm?" he made an obvious gesture with his hand toward the door.

"I know that. It's why I'm here."

"What do you mean?"

"Jack...you're hunt for Airachnid is over. I appreciate how you've taken this all on for all our sakes. For _my_ sake. I even feel like _you_ do about Airachnid. But you were right, the mother in me is going to trump this every time. It has to stop now." She was using that mom tone to keep him calm, but it really just made him feel restless and caged in.

"You didn't have any problem with it the other night. _You_ want me to kill her too."

"I do. But the way you're going about it has to end. I love Rafael dearly but don't make me think about you getting hurt next." She reached out a hand to him but he pulled away for a second.

"And you don't think it will blow up in our faces if I fess up now? How will that feel?" He turned and swung his arm out over all the gear and hardware that he had so obviously taken from the government armory. "If Fowler doesn't lock me up for this, the Autobots will never trust me again. Not to mention losing our chance with Arcee."

Exasperated, June thumped a fist lightly on her knee.

"You're not _listening_ to me. I said I came in here to talk with you to give you a chance. And you didn't listen to me the other night when I said I would do anything to keep you safe."

"You can't _possibly_ by wicked enough to cover this up for me, mom." he turned back and slowly shook his head at her.

"No. But one? I have no desire to see my son go to jail. Two? I don't want to see team Prime fall apart either. Three? I don't want to be humiliated like that if the sex comes to light. Four? I don't want to give up on Arcee."

"But to just go and tell them everything..." Jack said, pained.

"Not _everything_, but what you _will _tell them will result in Airachnid and Arcee being taken out of your hands."

"Then it was all for nothing! And if Airachnid is alive and exposes everything? Compromises the base? Ruins us all? And don't say she's dead. As long as we don't know, the chance remains." Jack fired back.

"All right, fine, but you've done all you can. It should be in the Autobot's hands now." June answered.

"And what about Fowler? What you said about jail?"

"That's what I'm getting at. Put all this stuff back. Get rid of it. All you and I can do about the sex scandal is keep that to ourselves now and trust to luck." June scooted a bit closer and put her hand on Jack's knee. "And to do that, you gotta get rid of the evidence for why you are so obsessed with killing Airachnid."

He made a disgusted sound. "As far as they know I'm obsessed with finding Arachnid because of Arcee. And that's true enough!"

"And you want to spare team Prime sexual scandal." she added.

"That to." He snapped.

"But with what happened with Rafael, you can't keep your hunt quiet anymore." She said, shaking her head.

"One doesn't have anything to do with the other. Unless Rafael sings like a canary." Jack growled.

"That is terribly unfair. That young man put himself in the hospital trying to help. And he's being surprisingly adamant and loyal. He's insisting it was his idea and he's not saying a word. But by the very nature of his denial, its obvious he's hiding something." June took her hand back. "That's what I meant. You just _can't_ keep this between the three of you anymore."

Jack sighed. "Look I know. I'm sorry. But what you just said, right there. Don't you see I'm busted? With what he might glean from Rafael, anything I hand over to Prime about Airachnid will just incriminate me. I know where she is!" He steeled himself. "And you wanna know how I know that? How I'll explain that one? I went after her once already and captured an ambush spider. One of Airachnid's very own. We call it the frisbee-con. And we piggybacked her homing beacon from it's body. I've known for better than a week where to find her!"

"My God, Jack." June was taken back a little at the extent of what he had kept from the Autobots.

"There, ya see? I'm finished either way, I guess." He sighed.

"Dammit, Jack. I'm here to work out exactly _what _to tell them. How _much_ to tell them. Fowler and the CIA more than the Autobots! And like I said, to give you a chance to do the right thing. If you're exposed for hunting Airachnid like this, it will look worse than if you admit to it now yourself. This morning. As soon as you can. But I have to be a little criminal here and tell you to get this gear back where it belongs." She looked pained now too. "To give up Airachnid and trust the Autobots with Arcee and to do what's right by Rafael. That way, Miko and Rafael won't _have_ to betray you this morning."

"The heats on, huh? How the hell did this happen? How did it end up that _I_ am the one in danger of ruining team Prime and myself and not Airachnid?" Jack looked up at the ceiling, raising up his hands for emphasis.

He was haunted, handsome and tortured and June wanted to turn the clock back five years.

"I guess this is where I say it's all to easy to become the thing you hate." she said quietly.

"It was all for _nothing_." He replied, his voice dejected and cruel. Aimed at himself.

"Jack, you did what you had to. I'll never forget it. We'll never forget it. But I think I can safely say now that Airachnid _must_ be dead."

He glanced over at her, his eyes angry. "Well, we're gonna find out. And I'll tell you what I told Rafael, the Autobots won't have it in them to do what I intend to do. If they find her alive, she'll get her time at the podium. _She'll_ be the one singing like a canary."

"Then we'll have to trust to luck as I suggested." June replied.

"You'd be okay with team Prime breaking apart at the seams?" Jack asked. June took a deep breath and let it out.

"We'll worry about that if it happens." she said firmly. "For now, we should run this past Miko and then go see Rafael. Make it straight with 'Team Jack' and then trust the Autobots."

Jack stared at his mother, his resolve wavering in light of her own. Her facts. The truth. He was a bit surprised at her suggestion he bury his appropriating gear from the government armory and he knew Rafael and Miko would keep that secret at least. The rest was all to inter-woven and he was utterly, finally, to late to act. He sighed, looking down at his boots. As least if he went about it, as his mother suggested, maybe he wouldn't be kicked to the curb by the Autobots.

But he would definitely be benched. There would be no more war. And no more Arcee. He had spent almost a year leading a double life and the last three months trying to keep it a secret.

He had changed. And he didn't know if he could but his faith in trust anymore. Lastly, he thought about all the times he had convinced Arcee to spare Airachnid.

_Everything I have done or decided to do has been wrong._ He dropped his head to his chest and gave it a small shake.

June, sitting there in her jeans and jacket with two tiny spots of Rafael's blood on her clothes, studied her son quietly. Then she stood up demurely and walked over to the door. She was right, Miko was waiting. She hadn't left, for the younger woman too would feel the clash of worlds and conflicts of interest. This way, she and Jack could run it by her and at least work to spare Jack the real trouble he was facing if Fowler and the agents discovered what he had been up to.

It would be dawn soon, and this debacle with Rafael would be enough for one day.

"Miko, come in here please." She asked and a moment later both women walked back over to Jack, who climbed to his feet and just stood there. June, her gaze lingering on Jack, turned to Miko and steadied herself.

"We've decided what we're going to tell the Autobots. And how." she looked back at Jack. "So I think you should hear it and then all three of us will go back to medical and find Optimus."

Miko looked at Jack who didn't even glance at her.

He just turned suddenly and flipped over his card table with a roar of frustration.

And despair.


	43. Guilty

**Guilty**

The small light over head turned on with a click and Rafael stirred softly a moment later, turning in his bed and blinking at the person he instinctively felt was there.

Jack Darby sat next to bed number two on a stool, in the medical bay allocated for humans at the massive Autobot base, having come to see his friend after the horrible events from the night before. He was smiling, holding out Rafael's glasses and trying to ignore the purple shadows circling Rafael's eyes in the form of two black eyes. That and the mottled bruise on his temple.

"Jack?" Rafael asked dryly, blinking quickly and clearing his throat. Then he pushed himself up from the layers of blankets, the plastic undercover of the hospital bed groaning like an inflatable mattress.

"Jack!" He smiled, genuinely pleased and taking the offered glasses to slip them on. Jack took his hand back and waited, his elbows on his knees, as Rafael brought himself more awake. Then he reached up and adjusted the lamp over Rafael's bed, turning it upwards to the ceiling and muting the light.

"How ya doin', Raf?" He asked quietly.

Rafael cleared his throat again, resisting the urge to rub his eyes and sitting up more fully.

"Me? I'm okay. How's everything with you?" He yawned a little.

"Well...I'm still here. They must be getting my cell ready." Jack said and Rafael gave him a sheepish grin. Jack just smirked.

"Was it as bad as you said it was going to be?" Rafael asked.

"Well, as it stands, I'm in a lot of hot water. With everybody."

"Ah, man. Jack I'm so sorry. I told them..."

"Raf, I shouldn't even be in here. Let's just agree that we're both really sorry and try not to waste time begging each other for forgiveness."

Rafael chuckled a little. "Yeah, ok. I guess that can work."

Rafael was back home. At the base. And for the last thirty six hours he had been through almost as big an ordeal as what had happened to him when he neural jumped into Arcee's closed down mind. By the graces of agent Fowler and June Darby, along with Mrs. Esquivels staunch faith in them, Rafael had been given a clean bill of health at the hospital and was sent home. Home being the medical bay at Autobot base for rest and recuperation. Not to mention close circuit monitoring. He had a new kind of lead pasted on his chest now just over his heart and another on the _un_bruised temple on the left side of his head. And there was an oxygen monitor over his finger along with an IV drip in his arm.

But the empty pizza box was a nice touch. At the hospital, Fowler had to use some of his discretion to downplay what had actually happened to Rafael while again keeping secret the Autobot's existence. To do so, he needed June's help. And she had personally taken responsibility for Rafael's continuing care after he was released.

Apparently the whole thing had been passed off as Rafael breaking his nose. This would explain the slight cauterization for bleeding and the black eyes, along with the thirty minute cat scan he had been put through. One little piece of white tape over his nose, and Mrs. Esquivel was none the wiser as she brought her son a pizza (by request) and fussed over him for a few hours before she had to be driven home to the rest of her considerable family.

There had been talk that she wanted Rafael at home with her, but June had intervened again. Mother to mother, she assured the matronly Mrs Esquivel that Rafael needed his rest, not a plethora of curious brothers and sisters with a hundred questions.

Luckily, Mrs. Esquivel had adjusted to her son's life with the Autobots better than one could have expected. Once she had learned of them, her trust in them was simple and direct, keeping their secret to herself as long as _they_ kept her son safe. Everyone knew this and the deception hurt. But at least in her world, a tumble and a broken nose were hardly a matter for hysterics. She was a strong woman. Though she _did_ announce that she would be back promptly in the morning, leaving no room for debate as she had gotten into agent Fowler's car.

So that was settled and everything was right with the outside world again. But hardly in house.

If someone had been keeping score, the strikes added up against Jack Darby rather quickly, with some carrying over to Miko and Rafael themselves. Again though, June's presence had proved invaluable and in an ironic turn of luck, her knowledge of Jack's activities aided him in coming clean in the manner they had agreed upon.

For one, she had a respectful working relationship with Fowler and a _private_ relationship with Optimus Prime,. And June, without blinking an eye, used that to her full advantage to keep Jack out of _real_ trouble. Not that he wouldn't have to face the music at some point about what happened, but true to her word, June was insistent that Jack hand over everything he knew about Airachnid to the Autobots and bury all traces of his illicit borrowings from the government armory.

The latter wasn't to hard. For one, Miko and Rafael were absolutely sworn to secrecy on that part, lest Jack be arrested for a felony. And two, all three of them had had a hand in raiding said armory, so they knew how to cover their tracks. It was a simple matter for Miko, using Rafael's laptop, to tweak the inventory files as she had seen him do when they had been checking the computer system for traces of Airachnid's sabotage.

But that left the whole hunt for Airachnid and that's where all three of them fell under heavy scrutiny. Not only for what they had done with the VR unit, but also for what they had done in pursuit of her.

Jack had been faced with a moral dilemma then. Two of them.

The first was, quite horribly, that there had been a measured wariness from the Autobots towards the three young humans when it became apparent the appalling risks they had taken. And the evidence in Rafael's room only made it worse. Ironically, this had threatened to permanently bench all _three_ of them more than any thing else ever had. But Jack could hardly condone Optimus and the others being suspicious of Miko and Rafael so, with mainly their reputations in mind, he had thrown himself on the mercy of the court and owned up to everything.

He spoke passionately about Arcee at first, which explained his relentless hunt for Airachnid, going back to the night she had abducted his mother and how she had done it before. And he had also gone on about being benched and taken out of the war. Side-lined in the pursuit of Airachnid and how he had taken matters into his own hands. And every other little argument and counter-argument he had for acting as he did.

He challenged the Autobots on all three accounts. Back and forth, up and down, in and out and he did such a damn good job of it, he almost convinced himself. But privately he knew he had _used_ Miko and Raf and he really only hoped to salvage their reputations out of this mess.

But to do so, led to his _second _moral dilemma. The privacy of his sexual relationship with Arcee. Because it was rather simple now that the cat was out of the bag. How did he explain knowing where Airachnid currently was? The frisbee-con. And where had the frisbee-con had come from?

Airachnid's old lair.

He remembered the chilly note in Prime's voice. "_What old lair_?"

To explain_ that_, Jack would have to tell about the encounter in the forest. The one where Jack and Arcee had been spied upon by Airachnid during their little sexual vacation. Afterward, Arcee had kept the matter private, separating her personal life from the professional, having done so ever since she had become intimately involved with Jack.

So e_xplaining_ that secrecy was where Jack now found himself with the Autobots, and some of his lies were finally coming back to haunt him. He could feel the first cold touch of Airachnid's legacy as things were close to being exposed.

For a moment he had humored the idea of just spilling the beans. But the truth was he still hoped Arcee would wake up one day. And he couldn't suffer the thought of having her wake up to the secret being out. So he kept quiet, if only to honor her memory and their privacy and spare her any humiliation.

But he _did_ stall for time.

And time was on his side. Being pressed for it, Optimus didn't ask for any further details. He and the Autobots just made ready to head out in pursuit of Airachnid as soon as possible and they would be leaving soon. But as for Miko and Raf, Jack had done what he could. Even though his own reputation took a huge hit when Prime had passed judgment.

"You have exercised the poorest of judgment, Jack. And I am _gravely _disappointed in you."

Well, he could live with that. He didn't even blame anyone for the stance they had to take anymore. The fault was truly his.

But since he _was _stalling, that was why he was here to see Raf. And luck of a particular kind was with Jack again. Miko had gone home for the night, and Fowler and his mother were busy looking into the VR unit in Central Command. There was also Airachnid, Arcee and the 'frisbee-con' to fuss over and the Autobots were preoccupied with them all. As for Jack? Well, in what could only be loosely termed as house arrest, Jack Darby was supposed to be in his quarters. Tomorrow would undoubtedly be a new day of questions and answers and he wasn't looking forward to it. Everyone would be there. Fowler and June were spending the night at the base, burning the midnight oil. And there would be some questions for Rafael too, as he would be asked to explain his experiments.

Jack had felt compelled to come see him for a several reasons and to his ever lasting relief, it was agent Cindy herself on duty. She was hovering around medical to keep an eye on Rafael in case June had to be called up.

Luckily, things were to serious around the base for her to flirt very much and so, five minutes later, Jack had slipped into the room and quietly sat down. Now he looked at Rafael and he him, both of them thinking that the other looked like shit.

"You want some water?" Jack asked. Rafael just shook his head, collecting his wits.

"So where are we?" he asked quietly.

"Tomorrow they'll want to know how you traced Airachnid's homing beacon using the frisbee-con." Jack replied.

"I don't know how to feel about that." Rafael licked his lips.

"Well, it's a chance to show your stuff, I would say. I'm just sorry it had to be under these circumstances." Jack smiled.

"I thought we were going to spare each other all the apologizing." the younger boy smiled back.

Jack just just looked away at the bank of medical read-outs set in the wall, thinking for a moment.

"Miko told me about how you took it all on yourself when you brought everything to Optimus." Rafael said. "She was in here and told me before she went home."

"That's just how it should be. Don't argue, okay?" Jack looked back at Rafael, his tone brokering no discussion. "We'll come out of this okay."

"But what about the VR unit? And everything we did?"

At that Jack sighed and looked down at his feet. He shifted to set one hand on his thigh, leaving the other arm still across his knee. It was the position of someone about to share some weighty news. He didn't look up when he spoke.

"It's going to be pretty much like I said. We'll be lucky to ever see that thing again."

"Oh, no." Rafael groaned.

"And the Autobots won't tell me anything about Arcee."

"Didn't you read them the note?" Rafael asked. While at the hospital in town for his CAT scan, Rafael had scribbled Jack some quick notes about what this whole thing meant for Arcee's condition. He had insisted that the trap set by Airachnid was more than just a parting shot. It was confining something. Or keeping someone prisoner. And that his program had worked.

Rafael staunchly believed that Arcee was alive.

Jack looked up with a weary smirk. "They were less than receptive to anything Miko or I tried to tell them."

"They're not even hopeful?" Raf sounded exasperated.

Jack sighed. "Right now, Airachnid and her booby traps are scandal enough and that includes the frisbee-con. They're back on high alert and taking things one step at a time."

"So that means they're going after Airachnid first." Rafael concluded and scratched his lip. When Jack didn't answer, Rafael stared at him.

"They're going after her first, right?" He urged.

"I'm stalling for time." Jack replied, unblinking.

"Stalling for time? But didn't you tell them we knew where she was?"

Jack said nothing.

"Oh, no. Jack, no. Come on." Rafael pleaded.

"Don't get excited." Jack held up a hand and Rafael sagged back. "Let me explain."

"I thought this was all over." Rafael said, looking up at the ceiling and feeling tired again.

"Not yet." Jack smiled, but his eyes held no humor. Just bitter irony.

Rafael looked over at him. "You _can't _keep this from the Autobots anymore. Not with what your mother knows."

"Mom knows about the two lairs, that's true. She insisted I turn over the coordinates to the Autobots. She was quite clear about it." The night of the neural trap, Jack had no choice but to share _everything_ with his mom. It was the only way he could see himself setting things straight, so Rafael was quite perplexed.

"So how can you be stalling?" he said, lifting his head back off the pillow.

"Mom doesn't know _which _coordinates I gave them." Jack said quietly.

Rafael sat right up. He got it immediately.

"You gave them the coordinates to the _old_ lair!?"

"Just now at supper time. I think Prime and Wheeljack will be the ones bridging out."

"Jack, you_ lied_." Rafael was incredulous.

It was a risky game Jack was playing but he didn't care. He had one more trick up his sleeve until he had to tell Optimus everything tomorrow. When they looked deeper into the frisbee-con.

Jack Darby had a plan.

"I just need more time." he said quietly.

"Time to do _what_? Miko went home tonight. What are you gonna do? Call her up and work out a new story?"

"No, I have her phone."

"Not to mention if they make me recreate the homing trace experiment they'll see her location for themselves." Rafael went on, shaking his head.

"Well, until then, they're on a wild goose chase." Jack answered, reaching into a jacket pocket.

"I don't _believe_ this." Raf sigh. "You're going to be in so much trouble."

"You're right." Jack admitted. "So I've got to go now." he held something up. It was the thumb drive with the correct coordinates for Airachnid's latest lair.

**ooo**

"No way." Rafael shook his head.

"Look, Raf. I need you to..."

"You're always saying that! Can't you let it go and leave me alone?" He groaned, rubbing his injured temple and its ugly purple bruise. "We're in enough trouble."

"Raf, please." Jack pleaded. "This is my last chance, all right? _You're_ my last chance. No more fuckin' around, okay? And for that matter, I've heard it said fifty different ways in the last twenty four hours that Airachnid _has_ to be dead, so if that eases your mind, help me bridge out there and find out!"

"What for!?" Rafael hissed as Jack looked over at the door.

"For the same reason you neural-jumped into Arcee. For all the reasons I told you before. Help me, Raf. _Please_. Don't quit on me now."

Rafael glared at him.

"That's mean."

"_You _were willing to risk everything and I supported you. This is _my_ only shot. I put it off to long. Come tomorrow, it's finished."

"That's mean to use that against me." Rafael slumped back and looked at the ceiling.

"She's dead Rafael. Okay? But I've got to know. I've got to do something. I've got to do _this_." He reached over and put a hand on Rafael's shoulder.

"You _are _obsessed." Rafael was to miserable not to spare Jack's feelings. Jack said nothing. After a moment he sighed and pulled his hand back.

Raf started talking quietly. "I was so scared. When I thought it was her inside Arcee's mind. How can you want to stick you're neck out for someone like Airachnid?"

"You know why. I'm sticking it out there for Arcee. One last time, Raf. So I don't have to wonder for the rest of my life like you said."

Rafael Esquivel stared at the ceiling for a full two minutes. He must have sighed half a dozen times and then he closed his eyes for so long Jack thought he fell back asleep. He was weighing what he knew, what he believed, what he felt responsible for and what he hoped for. He was weighing him, Jack and Miko and his beloved Autobots.

"Raf?"

"Is this what it feels like to be grown up?" the younger boy said quietly, without opening his eyes.

"When I get around to it, I'll let ya know." Jack smirked and Rafael had to chuckle a little. Then he opened his eyes. Up went the glasses.

"I'll need my laptop."

With a smile that was hard to identify, Jack Darby hefted up a backpack from where he had set it down against Rafael's bed frame. He slipped out the laptop and he held it out quietly for Rafael to take.

Rafael had been through the mill lately. He was battered and beaten and a little resentful. But he was trying to understand the need. He glared at the black case of his computer with frank disgust, then he looked up.

"All right, damn you. One more time." He said. His voice quavered. He was worried and scared. And it was the first time he had ever swore at Jack.

But he _did_ take the laptop.

"The thing is, everyone is in Central. Will they notice the Hi-Jack?" Jack chewed his lip.

"Probably." Rafael sniffed a little petulantly. "So we'll have to be quicker than usual. The moment Ratchet steps away from the computer I better access the bridge protocol. You better be ready back in your room."

Jack handed Rafael his small two-way radio.

"Count on it."

"Twenty minutes?" Rafael asked, taking the thumb drive and clipping it into his laptop.

"I'll be ready." Jack stood up.

"You were already ready. Weren't ya?" Rafael grimaced as he watched Jack stand.

Jack looked down at his friend and smiled, his face looking guilty.

"Yes. I was." he replied.

**ooo**

Jack Darby was ready. Standing there geared up and bouncing lightly on his feet, trying to stay loose.

Any second now. The lights had flickered, announcing Prime and Wheeljack bridging out to the old lair. With any luck, Ratchet would step away now, what with all the things to keep him occupied in Central. With any luck, no one would notice the Hi-Jack.

Not that it would matter come tomorrow. Where once he had worked for weeks to conceal his showdown with Airachnid, there was no chance to keep _any_ of this secret any more. Tomorrow it would be clear what he had done. They would know about the Hi-Jacking. Everything.

That was why he and Miko had decided to return only certain things to the armory. That was why he had kept more than his fair share. And since tomorrow he would be in deep shit, he might as well dive in head first.

So he had _two_ backpacks full of gear. Two phones, his LAW2 rocket with it's deadly thermal warhead and the exo-frame on his right arm. What was more he had a new arc-unit on a nylon strap at his side, with the Chameleon Armor cloaking it all.

That was more than enough to kill Airachnid. And Jack was prepared to do just that.

To his relief, the swirling, warm green vortex blossomed out of his apartment wall, just as it had the first time. Rafael hadn't let him down.

"Go, Jack!" Rafael's voice crackled in the radio and Jack took off in a sprint, running right at the portal without hesitation.

He vanished with a rush of displaced air...and the hunt was on.


	44. Closing in

**Closing in**

As Jack Darby ran, his head cleared. It felt good to be outside. Good to finally be taking action. Good to be alone. The fall wind buffeted him, hinting at sharper temperatures on the way, but after the chaos of the past few days at base, it served to revitalize him out here. It felt good this wind, biting his lungs and numbing his ears. Even though for a desert boy like him the rich, humid air made him want to sneeze. Still, it was a welcome change from the oppressive stuffiness of his world of secrets. Now he felt light on his feet and excited, eating up the distance as he passed like a shadow under the leaves.

Wonderful stuff that Chameleon armor. Not that it would ever stop a bullet or blaster shot but it was exactly the tool to have out here and it handled the forest canopy around him with ease, bending the light and patterning colors so that he was barely noticeable even to the indigenous animals.

In the late evening, the sun just a deep purple ribbon fading on the horizon, Jack had bridged out into the deep east end of Oregon where it bordered Nevada. Apparently, Airachnid gravitated towards the thick forests of the upper northwest United States to set up her lairs. Perhaps they simply appealed to her or it could be something more sinister. Like maybe map how on a map it looked like she hovered over the heads of her enemies.

He shook his head a little at himself as he picked his way down into a dry creek bed, careful of the dim outline of rocks.

Such philosophical thoughts were a welcome change from all the weeks of intrigue and secrets. And what was more, he couldn't deny that every step he took forward, left everything_ else_ farther behind. He felt better the longer he ran through the night. He started trotting down the dry gravel bed now, the moon above lighting his way a little.

Yes, he was distancing himself body and soul and all he could think about was what lay ahead. Everything back home didn't matter. All the fighting, the arguing, the maneuvering, the stress, the tension, the self recrimination. All the personalities and feelings involved. All the impact, cause and effect and overlapping repercussions therein. It had been like a thick weight in his mind all these weeks. And really the only purpose it had served was to turn him into a grim, driven insomniac. So, out here, he felt he was finally closing in on the point of all that strife and all other concerns started to fall away from his mind in clumps.

He just didn't want to think about it anymore. Constantly keeping track of things and worrying about it all coming apart had been a nightmare. If he ever tried to write it down on paper it would have given him a headache. Now, like this, none of it mattered and he hadn't felt this good in a long time. Even better than when he had hunted Vehicons alone. Even better than the night he had bridged out to Airachnid's old lair and captured that ambush unit.

Because, out here, allowing for no other outcome, Jack was hunting for bigger fish.

He could feel it. She was out here. Having never doubted it before and only agreeing with everyone to shut them up, now that he was this close he _knew_ she was still alive and that he was going to find her. He felt more certain of it than even Arcee's hoped for revival.

He was finally going to get some answers. And when he had them, he was going to get some pay-back.

But even though he felt that peculiar freedom of being out in the woods course through him, he wasn't having it all his own way. A muted blue light on his wrist blinked softly.

Rafael. Again. For the_ third_ time. He was calling Jack via the communication link built into the Chameleon armor and Jack recalled how the younger man's cooperation had been bought tonight only with the strictest of promises. One of them being that they stay in contact.

Little did Rafael know that every forty feet or so, Jack came close to just switching everything off and going on alone. But, one more time, he found a sheltered spot and hunkered down to answer the call.

"I'm here." he said softly, keying the tiny micro-bead at his throat, the gravel shifting under his boots.

"Why are you breathing like that?" Rafael asked immediately, the volume turned so low that Jack could barely make him out.

"Don't worry. I've just been running." Jack pulled in a deep breath, letting his diaphragm flex, his lungs open and the blood pounding in his ears.

"So I see. That's why I've been calling. Jack, you're within ninety yards now."

Jack winced a little at that. Ruminating for the last thirty minutes was one thing, running right into Airachnids arms was another. That was when he noticed the weathered drain pipe about ten yards down, it's concrete mouth a round hole in the side of the dry creek.

"There's a drainage pipe here." He shook off his surprise. "I'm in an old creek bed." He added, keeping his voice low even though Rafael had assured him the null field of his espionage armor would dampen all sound from Jack by ninety percent. You never really knew when it came to Transformers. Especially a psychopath like Airachnid with a penchant for secrecy and predatory thinking. He would have to be careful from here on out.

"Some type of sewer maybe?" he ventured.

"Yeah. Buildings. Got to be." Rafael replied by way of reasoning. At that, Jack stood up and carefully crawled up the north side of the creek bed, raising his eyes up level with the edge of tough grass and dry reeds that shivered in the wind along the shore. Sure enough, out across the way between two pine trees, he could see the dark outline of some old buildings and one sizable warehouse.

Apparently the twisted bitch also gravitated to the same kind of place to set up shop each time. He was used to facing her down in such places and it seemed fitting. But this was no abandoned airstrip and that one lone warehouse was his best bet. Judging from the single rut filled dirt road between him and the scattering of shacks, this place had to be a semi-permanent lumber camp. Abandoned now. Or maybe even an old mine. _That _wouldn't be so good. He didn't want to go in after her in any kind of cave and he was counting on her being holed up in the buildings.

As his eyes adjusted, off to the left he could see what at first glance looked like a field of tombstones and he shivered a little. But then he realized it was a cluster of tree stumps stretching back up the hill and off into a black wall of pine trees and he breathed a little easier.

Lumber camp. Definitely. He fought the urge to duck back down and kept staring into the dark, looking for any hint of light in the buildings.

"Do you _see_ anything?" Rafael's tiny little voice asked and in the wind Jack realized he had missed the first question.

"No. No lights. No movement." he said in a quiet voice.

Raf sighed with relief over the link.

Jack could feel what Rafael must be thinking and he would bet money the younger man wasn't to far from beginning to pester Jack to return to base. But he didn't come this far to back out now. And if she really _was_ dead somewhere in there, he would at least see her body and make sure.

Permanently.

He slipped back down to the gravel bed and started checking his gear. Two backpacks worth of stuff and his specialty LAW2 rocket. Plus his new arc-unit on it's tough nylon strap at his side. He made ready quickly, checking it all a final time and clipping a few things into place.

"I'm going to take a look." He said finally in a whisper, wiping his lips with his fingers and working some moisture back into his mouth.

"Jack..." Rafael began.

"Just a look, okay? Bear with me on this."

"I don't know..."

"Rafael, I'm almost there. Well know in a just a few minutes. And content yourself with the fact that there's no activity here. This place is dead." He wanted to add _so all this was for nothing _but even now he wasn't letting himself picture any other outcome. She _had_ to be here. She had to be alive.

Alive so that he could kill her.

"How long are you going to take?" Rafael finally relented.

"The place is spread out a bit." Jack lied. "A good number of buildings. Just give me some time to peek into each one." He slipped the arc-unit free and readied it, shifting the strap and settling it more comfortable on his chest. Then he hefted the improvised shock-weapon up and made ready.

"Jack? Just be careful. Remember that frisbee-con."

"Hey, don't worry. I'm just going to take a look. The null field brought me within ninety yards right? Give me some _time _here, Raf."

"Alright." Raf replied but he didn't sound to convinced, and indeed back at the base, he watched the tiny blip on his laptop screen, chewing his lip.

Deciding against crawling out right where he was, Jack worked his way down the creek bed slowly, ever cautious and avoiding the dry reeds and wild wheat along the sides. Before he had to pick somewhere to climb out, he luckily came upon a small, sandy outcropping that allowed him to walk right up and out of the creek bed and onto level ground. A moment later, and he was slipping past indiscernible lumps of rusty machinery scattered here and there at knee height, grown up around with wild grass and weeds.

He paced himself as he closed in on the buildings. It wouldn't do to take a spill. And besides, if anything was going to happen it was going to happen here and now and he slowed for a moment, completely exposed and making a beauty of a target.

Were one of these overgrown lumps going to explode into a hissing ambush unit of fangs and dagger like legs? Or would it be a pitfall? Poison stakes? Tripwire? Or something as subtle as a landmine? Or was it possible Airachnid took no precautions at all here at her new home because only a fool would hunt a dragon in her lair?

But nothing happened. Whether it was from lack of traps or his Chameleon armor, it really didn't matter. Only the wind howled around him, stirring the long grass and making the dark evergreens about the camp sift back and forth with a hiss.

What an odd mix of emotions. The lack of activity was disheartening, given the circumstances. The buildings stayed quiet, with the kind of stillness that told the senses the place was truly empty. But all the other smaller tool sheds and trailers meant nothing. His money was on the warehouse. And as far as Rafael knew there were a dozen such buildings. That should buy him some time.

But even so, as he moved forward, he quietly switched off his link.

**ooo**

A million different things could have happened when Jack Darby crawled up on a small tool shed and peered into one of the dark windows of the lone warehouse. But all that stared back at him was his own reflection. He couldn't see very much at all until the clouds above obscured the moon and then he cupped his hands around his eyes and took a good look inside through the glass.

From his vantage point...it was empty. Just a dirty concrete floor and the measured out support beams holding up the ceiling. Nothing else but a scrap of garbage and an old box off to the side.

Fighting down his rising panic and disappointment, he kept staring, willing _something_ to be there and to his surprise he was rewarded at his eyes adjusted to the dark. He pushed his cheek up against the dirty glass, squinting to be sure and staring off to his right.

Apparently, this part of the warehouse fronted a much larger area in back that had been obscured by the trees from the road. Sectioned off in two parts, it was twice as big as the last one Airachnid had used. And even as he stared through the window, he could finally see a ribbon of light running along the bottom of a set of huge interior doubles doors that split the room off to the right

A muted, dull purple light, of just the kind the sun had made when it set this evening.

But this time that purple color meant something so much more.

Now, it could be said that Jack did everything wrong, but he felt compelled by a strange sense of destiny. Where he had been picturing a night of playing hunter and hunted, with it never very clear who was who, he found himself doing something now that would have given his friends and family a fit if they had seen it.

All he did after spotting that light, was drop down to the ground and head around the corner for the front door.

A moment later and his exo-frame fist made short work of the front door's round knob. Then he swung the smaller door open and walked inside, not even bothering to look around him as he headed directly across the floor towards the light at the second set of larger doors. They were of the type that could be pushed back left to right on tracked wheels and he half expected them to slam open in attack.

But, in a rather anti-climatic way, nothing happened. And at the last second Jack slowed his pace and took stock of his situation. He couldn't hear anything and the place smelled like dust and oil. As for the doors, they sat before him, wide enough to drive a bus through and taunting him with the awareness of how close he was to the end of his struggles. And also that strange, excited apprehension to find out what was on the other side as well.

But he _knew _that glow and he knew that color and there was no worldly reason for it to_ be _here, here of all places, and the end of his hunt was finally in sight. Still, he tore his eyes away from it and looked around, seeking another way in, willing himself to think and be rational.

If anyone, or any _thing _had been watching, they wouldn't have seen Jack's lonely figure standing there, cloaked as he was. But he stood still for a moment, just thinking. And then, spotting something off to the left, he turned and walked into the shadows without a sound.


	45. The Dragon's Lair

**The Dragon's Lair**

There she was.

From his new vantage point, the moment Jack had slipped back into this part of the building he saw Airachnid herself, resplendent on a life sized couch of steel with drapes of fine silver mesh. She lay there like a roman empress at rest, as if she was besotted with wine and settled back in her lair like the queen of a hive. Her eyes were closed and she lounged about almost languid in her appearance, one hand draped over her chest and the other flung carelessly out at her side.

And there was no doubt she was very, very much alive.

There was a slight hum of energy and muted light from a few computer consoles and one would think it would have been warmer in here but, as always, it had Airachnid's particular feel of _coldness_ to it all. Ominous. The home of cruelty and spite where light was only a tool to taunt your enemies with and in between such nightmares it was set to the barest minimum of use for the queen of the shadows.

But he could see her easily enough, lounging there in her smug lair of hate and the only thing missing was a cowering troupe of slaves to wait on her hand and foot.

A tidal-wave of emotions welled up within Jack nearly to a breaking point. For one horrible moment he saw himself leaping down from the wall and charging at her. He could see his rocket launcher coming up and spitting death even as she looked up. He could see the thermal impact. See it burn away that hated, smug expression. He could see her dead before she even knew he was there, afterwards standing on her chest triumphant, heady with vengeance and vindication.

He was reaching back for his LAW2 to do that very thing, for he was never one to prolong dramatics, when something stayed his hand.

Airachnid had opened her eyes and raised her head. It was only a coincidence that she happened to be looking in his direction, but what startled Jack the most was that with a wretched groan, only_ one_ of Airachnid's eyes had creaked open. The other was a lightless shell, heavy lidded and unresponsive. Dead. And her mouth, where once it had gleamed with fangs as she relished the terror she spread, twisted open only on one side, the other side of her face a slack frown pulling her features down. She moaned again, touching her face with her fingers now, probing the unresponsive features.

_What the hell?_

Then she moved. Or rather, half collapsed. Rolling off the couch and slumping down to the floor with another deep groan of utmost machine agony. Then she began to crawl. Inch by wretched inch, reaching out with one arm and pushing with only one leg and two insectoid arms. Jack realized that her entire left side hung useless on her body. She dragged her other dead limbs and legs behind her, as if she had suffered a stroke. As if some terrible force had cut half the strings of a puppet. She was a pitiful, wretched sight, moaning and crying out softly in the now dingy trappings of her lair.

And she had no idea Jack was there.

He was rocked to his core but only for a moment, the surprise being replace with an intoxicating rush of satisfaction. He had a pretty good idea what the 'terrible force' had been to do this to her.

And he wasn't done yet.

**ooo**

"So it's true then." Jack Darby's voice carried from the shadows. "You did survive."

Airachnid's head snapped up, swiveling around on the end of her neck as she strained to look everywhere at once. She shoved herself up with her one good arm, trying to straighten up some more but it was all she could to hold herself in place. The weight of her dead half dragged her down.

She said nothing, but her one good eye was suddenly blazing with purple light.

"Ratchet had it right all this time." The voice went on. "He was certain there was no possible way you could have gotten away clean. Not with the energies involved."

The voice had shifted and Airachnid spun her head around, craning to look back over her shoulder into the shadows.

"Dangerous business piggybacking your spark. Looks like not all of you made it back, huh?" Jack's voice echoed around her in the building. Airachnid coughed and looked down at the ground, leaning over and trying to right herself with her two working insectoid legs.

"Who's there?" she finally croaked, her voice broken, slurred and rasping, lifting her head back up with a groan. Jack didn't reply.

"Jack, is that you!? _Jack?_!? Jack!" she cried weakly, her voice breaking as she tried to call out.

"Thank the All-spark you've come! Help me, _please_! It's _me_! Arcee!"

**ooo**

Jack Darby froze solid, a chill rippling up his back like cold water.

There are times in a persons life where a moment can be so startling, the rush of adrenaline from your guts is like the blow of a fist. The pressure in your body is seconded only by the one in your mind and you will literally bend over at the waist and gasp for air.

Jack did so now, that rush of blood pressure making him light headed as he felt his flesh crawl up and down his spine. He bent over slowly, hands on his knees, his heart suddenly hammering as his mind screamed against such shock. It was like someone had slapped him awake out of a dead sleep. He nearly fainted, so much did a cold rush of horror wash over him, numbing his testicles and making the tips of his fingers tingle.

Thankfully, he stood well away from her, unnoticed far back against the wall as she stared in the wrong direction, but even so he almost cried out.

_Oh my God!_ _No! It's not possible! It can't be! _

He sucked in his breath as quietly as he could, feeling cold sweat trickle down the back of his neck. His eyes teared up and he bit his lip as he stared at Airachnid where she lay.

But...he didn't move.

This wasn't the Jack Darby of old. This one had learned his lessons the_ hard_ way and was more cautious than ever, even at the moment of his greatest triumph. For ten seconds Jack warred with himself, fighting down the nauseous reflex of hope and longing that threatened to overwhelm him and the shock that made him want to vomit. He had to swallow three times to work moisture back into his dry mouth again.

_ No, no it can't be. Think think think. Think, about this Jack. Don't dance to her tune. Remember who you are dealing with. _

He stayed where he was, trembling. And when he was sure he wouldn't scream, he steeled himself.

And gambled.

"Nice try." He finally said, his voice aching in his chest, letting some of the wretchedness he felt bleed into it. "But Arcee died two weeks ago. I was there. And Rafael traced only _one_ spark signal back through the internet. It wasn't Autobot. It was _you_." He moved, slipping around her again but always staying in the shadows.

He held his breath, half hoping, half dreading her reply.

_Spark tracing!? Through the internet!?_ He had pulled_ that_ stuff out of thin air but _she _didn't know that.

"You're not Arcee." he added.

In reply, all Airachnid did was drop her head and it was her turn for a long moment to pass. Jack watched her, coming to a stop off to her right. She still held herself up, looking weak and sickly and he could see now her slender shoulders were shaking. She seemed to be sobbing, but then, as she raised her head back _up_, he realized she was _laughing_.

Some of the cloying venom bled back into Airachnid's voice, chuckling deep in her throat like a venomous reptile.

"So _that's_ how you finally found me. That little pie eyed weakling with the computer. The boy genius." She snorted and Jack died a little inside. She had called his bluff and he knew it was really her.

"It took you long enough, though." She went on. "I should have _cooked_ that little pest when I had the chance." She sniffed and shifted her weight a bit, still holding herself up with her one arm. "And how did the little Rafael work his magic, I wonder? Hmm?" She looked around herself again, her eye one peering into the dark like a purple spotlight.

She didn't see him, or even hear him, but once Airachnid confirmed that it was indeed _her_, Jack leaned against a support pillar of the warehouse, gritting his teeth so hard his jaw ached. His pulse pounded in his ears and he fought to keep from crying out.But in his grief_, _a cold murderous fury welled back up within his chest.

He had to hand it to her. Even now the evil bitch scored a point, never missing a trick. Twisting the knife and trying to dupe him mere moments after _his_ voice had surprised_ her_. It lessened his sense of vindication, even as it reminded him how truly wicked she could be.

"But you're wrong about Arcee being dead." Airachnid went on suddenly, her voice gaining some strength. "I have her here with me, Jack. Trapped inside me. Her spark. Harvested like a glow bug in a specimen jar."

Jack took a deep breath and slowly prowled around to the opposite side of the crippled Decepticon again. He didn't take the bait. Airachnid went on.

"If you want to ever see her again, you better..."

"No more games." Jack snapped from his new vantage point, smiling grimly as Airachnid actually jumped a little, spinning back around towards the new direction his voice had come from.

"She's _dead_. I was there." He snarled, continuing the lie. "She came to briefly but the damage was to great. That's how we knew _you_ had escaped." At the very least he was denying her the satisfaction of using _hope_ against him. But his own tone startled him.

"No more games and no more lies. I've had enough."

There are also times in books and movies where they say a person sounds 'deadly'. When he was younger, that had always seemed a bit melodramatic to Jack. But he heard it in _himself _now. A man that was no longer willing to listen and only talked with his enemies so that they could see their death coming. In that sense, he was more akin to a mafia gangster than any gun totting hero. Because in all those gangster movies you could always tell when the shit was _really_ going to hit the fan. And perhaps Airachnid heard some of this in his voice herself. Perhaps she heard that her time was truly up.

"Is Optimus here?" She suddenly asked. "Come to lecture me? Lock me up?"

The new Jack felt like twisting some daggers of his own.

"Nope." He smirked, watching her. "Nobody else is here. Just me." he said, having moved yet again. Airachnid did not turn towards the sound of his voice this time, but he could see she was mulling that over.

"Just me and my shadow." Jack said softly and Airachnid's shattered face pulled itself into a frown.

"Spare me your pathetic little threats." she snorted.

"Spareyou? _Spare_ you?" Jack's voice was bemused, but lacked all humor."Whatever made you think I came here to _spare_ you?" He said. He was in the zone now, having hardly to watch where he was going and circling Airachnid, drawing closer like a cat playing with a mouse. He had gone to a new place inside himself. He was no longer the young man of conscience he used to be four years ago. A morbid part of him was even enjoying this.

It took Airachnid a moment to digest what he had said.

"Don't make me laugh." She snarled out to the dark. "You little flesh bags never go anywhere without your Autobot babysitter!"

"That's true enough." Jack replied. "But you've taken care of that now, haven't you? And to think I once kept Arcee from killing you. Some cloying righteousness that cost me a great deal." He shook his head as he slowly paced around her. "Won't make that mistake again." he raised a hand and waved a finger in the air for emphasis, even though she couldn't see him.

"Don't make me laugh!" Airachnid snorted again.

But it was Jack who laughed this time, and _his_ laughter was real.

"You better wake up and smell your grave, bitch. What the hell do you think this is? Who do you think you're dealing with now? Do you still take me for that stupid kid who tags along behind Optimus for a moral lesson while he plays catch and release?"

She said nothing, still propped up on one arm and fuming.

"You forget the own trail of _shit_ you leave behind after your passing. You forget that night in the hanger. What you tried to do to me and mine."

"I didn't try to do anything, you little cretin!" She snapped. "I've _done_ it already! Your life will never be the same. Arcee's dead and_ you _killed her!" Airachnid fired out, laughing scornfully. "Dead, dead, dead! I made you do it! Everything you hold dear is in ruins!"

"Maybe." Jack answered grimly. "But come tomorrow, at least_ I'll _still be alive."

You could have heard a pin drop. Airachnid snarled, changing to half a snort and trying to toss her head back in scorn.

"You don't have the guts, _human_! You mewling little weaklings with your pathetic little appendages. It was all I could to keep from laughing in your face everytime you rubbed up against..."

"It's no use, you venomous cunt." Jack cut her off. "I got your goat back in that hanger and I got your number here in this one now. I've come to terms with what you've done. And I've decided to make sure you never do it again."

"You're lying." She challenged.

"You're _dead_." Jack answered, his voice more serious than Airachnid had ever heard it. Her mind was racing. Did he really _mean_ it this time?

"Not so fast, Darby. The Autobots won't allow this!"

Jack's laughter echoed in the air. For the first time ever, it was _he_ who was relishing _her_ fear.

"Oh, that's rich. That's beautiful. You'd like that wouldn't you? Cash in on some of that Autobot mercy? Now you're thinking like Starscream." he smirked.

"You little _bastard_."

"How's it feel to be on the end of the knife?" he was still moving, still walking. Stalking her.

"Come over here and find out!" she spit.

"_You_ can't stop me. Your strings are cut. You have no more tricks and traps to play. Not any that count, anyway." he replied from the dark.

"Don't be so sure, Darby! I know things, remember? Things you dare not ignore!" Her one eye was shining bright and she pulled herself back over against her couch, throwing her arm over the seat.

"You don't have any fangs anymore." Jack said, stopping to shift his gear around and readying the arc unit. He looked down at it, admiring it, quite matter of fact about all his actions and strangely detached from the moment.

"The Autobot's might have something to say about that!" Airachnid cried out. Jack smiled as he looked back up at where she lay.

"How many times do I have to tell you? _They're _not here. Look around you. Do you see any of them here? No, no one is going to save you now. Not even Megatron."

"Don't be so sure." she tried to manage a smirk.

"Actually, I'm _quite_ sure. Seeing as how you must be talking about the location of our base." Jack set his thumb over the trigger, his eyes never wavering from her now.

"You've taught me to well. Taught to me weigh in on the value of someone only by what I can get out of them." He shrugged. "Because from where I stand, there's a reason why the Decepticon warship didn't come down on the Autobots like a bomb. And judging from that slack eyed and silly expression on your face, I can guess why."

"You don't know anything! You're doomed! I'll call in the Decepticons right now!"

"Go ahead. I'll wait." Jack said immediately. Airachnid looked around, at a loss...and then she started cursing again.

"What's the matter?" Jack asked her, his bemusement obvious.

"Fuck you." She snarled after a moment, shaking her head, trying to pull herself back up onto the huge seat.

"I think there's more here than meets the eye." Jack went on. "Seeing the condition you're in tells me you're on your own. Because if you _did _haveanything to offer Megatron, you would have acted on it by now. So what's the deal?"

"They are...you can't..." Airachnid turned back, scrambling for something to say, but her wits were failing her. She tried to summon up an insult, salt the wounds, get Jack off balance. But it was to late. He spoke again.

"Shall I spell it out for you? Or show you?" he asked.

And then Airachnid's night exploded with a blast of electrical fire that lashed out of thin air right in front of her and seared over her body in arcing lines of tortuous agony. She screamed, reeling backwards, trying to pull away from it, but this time she was helpless. This time her body weighed her down. She couldn't even transform. This time she had finally been run to ground, had no more tricks up her sleeve, and had used up the last of her nine lives.

The electrical fire ceased for a moment and she wailed in pain, thrashing with her one arm and leg and seeing Jack Darby step out of the shadows with a steaming arc-unit in his hands. Of the kind he had used on her when she had control of Arcee's body all those months ago.

He shimmered, snapping into focus, as he disengaged some kind of cloaking device. The same he must have used to take her unawares last time. Only now he wasn't bothering to hide. As he pulled down his face-mask and goggles, his eyes gleamed with a murderous fire she had only see once before, in all her centuries of murder.

Her own.

"You _forgot_, didn't you? Didn't you, bitch?" And then he shot her again.

She screamed and rolled away from it, knocking over her couch and trying to crawl away but Jack bore down on her and washed the lightning up and down her injured spine. Joint's in her arms and legs popped and sizzled, shorting out as the blue fire burned through her and grounded down into the cement floor of the building

"How much was lost? " Jack's voice came over the dying hiss of the arc-unit as he ceased fire again. "How much of you bled away as you fled back through the net?" he asked. She groaned and finally managed to crawl away from him, trying to head back deeper into her makeshift lair. But it was no use.

"Did you bleed information? Did you feel yourself slipping away? All your precious little secrets oozing out of that black spark? " Jack fried her a third time, the stink of ozone burning his throat.

Airachnid convulsed, screaming, helpless under the lash of current. Obscenely, her dead half moved for the first time in months, jumping and spasming as the arcing energy wracked her frame. The agony was overwhelming. She _knew_ now he meant to kill her.

When Jack ceased fire a third time, she collapsed, sobbing, only to dragging herself back around on her good arm and stare at him with her one good eye. It was wide with shock. And fear.

"No." She sobbed. In a way, being mocked like this about how she had been severely crippled when she had returned to her body was almost more painful than the electrical fire itself. She was humiliated and helpless and for the first time, Airachnid tasted her own brand of bitter poison.

"Poetic justice is what they call it." Jack Darby went on, seeing her expression. "Hell, even if you had something to offer Megatron he would have just _ripped _it out of you and been done with it. You're no use to him half-scrapped and witless so I bet you didn't dare contact him anyway." Jack snorted himself, enjoying the moment. "Life's a bitch when you burn to many bridges, huh?"

Airachnid moaned and flopped back around, trying to call away from him again

"I wish I could have been here when you woke up a cripple." Jack started to follow her, slowly, keeping his distance. She didn't get far.

"I would have liked to relish the horror you must have felt. The only shame is, maybe you forgot how much you really have this coming." And then he shot her again.

The lighting traveled up her body one more time and even as she screamed, turning back towards him in her agony, Jack calmly brought the beam up and into the side of her face.

The deadened half of Airachnid's face exploded, the lens of her eye shattering as the arc-unit slashed across her unprotected features and slammed her back down onto the floor.

Airachnid shrieked so loudly, it made Jack's ears ring even over the harsh wash of the arc-unit. She threw her arm over her face, on her back now, and he bore down on her chest instead, seeing the plates of her armor fracture and crack open in places. There was nowhere to go. She began to bleed, energon running down her body in blue rivulets only to catch fire from the heat. Her body was so severely compromised that she stood no chance. She lacked Arcee's hardiness and insulation and had been unable to self-repair the residual damage her mind had suffered through the link all those weeks ago.

Now, to be blasted again like this? The pain was beyond excruciating, and the phantom heat and searing light that she felt in her spark was all to real, intensifying her agony as if someone held a match to her already existing burns.

Jack Darby was literally_ cooking_ her alive. A second time.

"Stop! Stoooop!" She wailed.

Mercifully, the current ceased.

"What was that?" Jack asked, his weapon steaming. Airachnid raised her head with what strength was left to her, raising one hand feebly in the air, trying to hold him off.

"Stop. _Stop,_ _Jack_." She pleaded weakly. Jack was breathing hard, his face a rictus of vengeance and Airachnid felt her blood run cold. Death was staring down at her, licking it's lips.

"Say it again." He snarled strangely, kicking aside some refuse, his arc unit steaming in his hands as he aimed it at her chest.

"Stop. _Please_." she moaned, dropping her hand weakly. She sobbed a little. "No more." she blubbered.

"Beg." He said quietly.

"Please stop...please, Jack. No more! I _beg_ you!"

"No." he smiled.

Time stood still. He knew this was it. _She_ knew this was it. He drew it out, blind with fury and pain himself, aching in his soul for the murder he was committing but needing to see her face in this moment. What was left of it.

He slipped the strap off his shoulder and took careful aim.

Then Airachnid struck.

**ooo**

Jack had come to close. He had come up on her to close, his eyes feverish at the moment of his triumph, forgetting that he faced a Transformer. A wounded one. Who was perhaps more deadly wounded than she had been fully functional.

With a heaving cry of rage, hate and pain, Airachnid, with all the inherent strength she could muster, shoved her hand under her toppled couch and flung it up at Jack Darby like a eight hundred pound missile.

It slammed into him, off center and spun him around, breaking his arm anew and snapping the exo-frame in half. The frame took most of the blow and probably saved his life, but as it was, Jack cried out, going down on one knee, stars bursting in his vision, the arc unit knocked out of his hands. Airachnid reared up at him like a great, steaming serpent, flinging herself at his unprotected back in one last desperate lunge.

Her talons sliced through the air, just missing Jack's neck but neatly cutting his backpack from his equipment harness like a scalpel, leaving four long cuts across his shoulder. The blow still propelled him off his feet and he landed hard six feet away, unable to catch himself.

"_You_!" Airachnid snarled."You wretched little bag of _flesh_! I'll bathe in your _blood_!" Raw hate spilled out of her now, all pretenses gone. Just the savage, psychotic Decepticon remained. She came at him, her indignant rage fueling her and helping her scramble up and lurch after him. Her two working insectoid legs helped and she had almost had him.

Jack pushed himself up painfully on one hand and scrambled to stay ahead of her. Without looking back , he felt her lunge forward yet again, her talons raking the floor just where his foot had been. With a shock, he felt the LAW2 slip from his back also. It's strap too had been cut by her slash, but he turned and grabbed it just before it hit he floor.

Airachnid came on, knocking the toppled sofa aside and hissing at him in her rage like wounded, bleeding snake.

Jack scurried back away from her on his seat, desperate to get clear, his broken arm making him bite his lip for the pain.

And so, in a morbid mockery of each other, they both crawled, crippled and down to one arm, determined to overcome each other in one last contest of wills.

Jack was breathing hard and fighting not to pass out, trying to hold his broken arm to his chest. And with a burst of strength, Airachnid shifted her weight and stabbed out suddenly with her two remaining insect arms, just missing him and clipping his thigh with a deep cut. She dragged herself forward with them, leaving a trail of energon and steaming fluids behind her on the ground. She came right up over him like a spider above it's prey.

He snarled at her, kicking up into her shattered face and making her howl. And he just managed to roll to the side as she hammered down with her fist in return. But she was off balance now, slow, and in that moment she stumbled. Jack, scrambling further to the side, finally regained his feet, broken arm and all, and danced back out of her reach for good.

Airachnid turned and screamed at him, knowing in an instant he was out of reach and had gotten the drop on her yet again.

He continued to back away on unsteady legs, his chest heaving, but he was safe now, for she lacked the strength and speed to pursue him any further. Her talons slowly dug thick grooves in the concrete floor and she lowered her head, groaning in frustration, hate and pain.

And defeat.

Jack stared at her, the pain in his arm still making spots dance before his eyes, but he clutched the LAW2 firmly to his chest with his good left arm.

"Okay...okay, you bitch." He gasped. "That one is on me. Stupid. Stupid." He shook his head and coughed.

"But enough's enough." He snarled. He hefted the tube with one hand and triggered it, watching it snap openly nicely and arm itself. "That's the _last _time I ever underestimate you."

At the sound, Airachnid raised her head, her one eye still staring balefully at him. Jack slipped the LAW2 up onto his shoulder and took aim, not twenty yards away, trembling, with his arm killing him. But his aim was steady. He didn't even care that he was probably to close, he _fully_ meant to shoot her with the rocket.

They glared at each other for a moment, time holding still.

At the last, Airachnid smirked and spat out a watery glob of Energon on the floor.

"Jack, Jack, Jack." she mocked him, slowly shaking her head. "Just _look_ at you. It will be a pleasant thought, on my way to Hell, to remember all that I leave behind. A dead Arcee, and her boy-man turned murderer." She crowed, twisting her devastated face into one last crocked smile with her cracked and broken lips.

Jack said nothing. There wasn't anything to say. He steadied himself and took aim, closing one eye and gritting his teeth.

And then a land bridge opened up off to his right.

**ooo**

It startled them both. Jack turned to see the spiraling green vortex blossom open right inside the building, of a size that could only mean a Transformer was coming through.

Before he could think any more on it, or even who expect, Optimus Prime himself came through in great haste, blade and blaster at the ready. Jack blinked. So did Airachnid, who pushed herself up and only stared.

"Optimus!" Jack gasped, more shocked than he would have been by the appearance of a squad of Vehicons.

Optimus spotted him immediately and took everything in at a glance as he came through the bridge. He leveled his blaster at Airachnid and retracted his blade, coming up to Jack in three great strides as the vortex stayed open behind him.

"Jack." He said, holding his free out to him in a calming manner. "Steady."

"Wh-what are you doing? What are you doing _here_?" Jack said, the rocket still poised on his shoulder.

"Jack...lower your weapon. It's over." Optimus replied, all the while looking at Airachnid. Jack stiffened and straightened right up, his spine suddenly turning to iron.

"Oh no it's _not_!" He barked out and Optimus Prime, four times his size, balked in mid-step, turning to look down at his human friend.

Jack tortured body was nothing compared to the dawning horror in his mind as he put two and two together.

Rafael. It had to be. Two more seconds and it would have been done. Over! But he was out of time. His last gambit had failed. Airachnid never missed a trick, right? She would seize the moment and all the imagined horror of the past weeks would become reality. And worse, just as he had foretold, Prime might even feel obligated, in his mercy, to let her live. Maybe even _help_ her! And then she would open Pandora's box with relish.

Jack shook his head as Prime kept his gaze levelly upon him.

"It's not over. Not yet. Don't you dare stop me." He groaned, reading the future in Optimus Prime's eyes.

"She'll ruin us all." he went on. Couldn't Optimus see that? His hand tightened on the rocket.

"No one will listen to her lies." Prime spoke, and then, horribly, he stepped between Jack and Airachnid Prime looked down at Airachnid for just a brief moment and then turned back to Jack.

"This is not the path you wish to take. To kill for revenge."

"Believe _me_, she needs to die for more reasons than _that_!" Jack wailed, gesturing past Optimus at Airachnid with his shoulder. "Get out of the way!"

"If you speak about what she potentially can use against the Autobots, we will handle those matters as they arise."

"Prime, you just don't _understand_."

"To kill a helpless enemy who has wronged you, is to become what you hate. It's not who we are. And it is not who _you_ are. I will not allow you to do this to yourself, Jackson Darby." And Prime retracted his blaster now too, standing straight and tall and setting himself fully between Jack and Airachnid. Between Jack and the loss of self he feared for the young human.

"You can't _do_ this. Not this time!" Jack cried.

"This is_ not _the way."

"You don't know how far I've come to settle this. There _is_ no other way! Don't stop me now!"

Prime said nothing. Together, they just stared at each other, neither one relenting. One was prepared to risk everything for his friends and family, and one already had.

Jack crumbled a little. There really was nothing he could do against Optimus Prime. what could he do? _Shoot_ him? Prime would _not_ move, and all the dreaded horrors of the last few weeks were coming true. Would come true. Everything would boil over.

But it was already to late. Prime, just by being here and using that infuriatingly passive way to stop a thing from happening, made it impossible to carry on. And, with truly little recourse, after a moment Jack lowered the LAW2 rocket.

"Oh, God." the young human moaned. The weapon slipped the rest of the way off his shoulder and he let it clatter to the floor. Beyond miserable, he just reached up to his broken arm with a groan.

"Damn everything all to hell." He sighed with a tired shake of his head, dropping his eyes to the floor. He was wretched and defeated...and said nothing more.

"Jack..." Prime spoke, taking a cautious step towards him.

Airachnid began to laugh from behind him, her voice watery and broken. Prime did not look back at her again. He bent down on one knee next to Jack, who looked small, young...and all to human.

"She'll ruin us all." Jack said in a weak voice as he continued to stare at the floor. His cheeks were dirty, but they still did not run with tears. He was deep down inside his misery and Prime feared him may never return. He was as lost to them as Arcee herself. Perhaps more. Optimus did not touch him, he just waited patiently.

"Come with me, Jack. I will carry you. She can't hurt you any more."

"She knows...secrets. Secrets she will use against us all."

"We will face them together, as well."

Jack looked up. And then his shoulders slumped, utterly exhausted. Only then did he allow himself to be picked up by Optimus.

Prime lifted him gently, ever the great leader of conscience and concern. At the last, the very last, almost surreal under these circumstances, to think it would be Optimus to stay his hand. In some way it was fitting. Perhaps only a Prime could shoulder such a burden that Jack had tried to keep at bay for weeks.

Airachnid was still laughing as Optimus turned back around, his human charge held safely in his hand.

"Ratchet? We're coming home." He called.

"How pathetic!" Airachnid crowed, laying in a pool of her own blood off to the side. "This isn't the end. You _know _that Prime, don't you?" She snarled at Optimus, bloodied and battered but still very much alive. "You'll _never_ be quit of me!" she aimed the words at Jack, knowing full well he could hear her. But he didn't even look down at her, he just held his broken arm and waited to go home, his face quiet.

Optimus paused just for a moment and turned to her. "You underestimate him. He is quit of you _now_." And then using the bulk of his body to shield Jack from her, he turned and walked back through the landbridge.


	46. At the last

**At the last**

When Optimus came back through the landbridge, Rafael started to cry. Miko, having been called back to the base, steadied him as June herself went forward, crying out in relief that she saw Jack sitting upright in Prime's hand. He was beaten and bloodied and incredibly his arm was broken again but he was alive.

"Jack" She cried, her nurses instincts already taking over. "Careful." She told Prime as he lowered Jack down far enough that he could slip on to his feet. He staggered a little and his mother got an arm around him immediately. "Lean on me. Is anything else broken? Let's get you down to medical." She said, turning away and forgetting that one of the Autobot's could have easily carried him there. But Jack was grim and quiet and she knew he wouldn't have wanted to be carried.

"I'm fine. It's just the arm." he groaned a bit. June made to start walking but Jack stopped her suddenly. He turned to her, his dirty face just inches from her own.

"Was it you?" He asked. June was able to meet his eyes, even as she watched Miko and Rafael out of the corner of her eye.

"Yes." She replied firmly. "I came back to medical to check on Rafael and saw everything. That and how you had shut off your link. He was beside himself with terror by then...and I made the call."

They stared at each other. "You can hate me later." June frowned a little even though her eyes looked hurt. Jack just sighed and shook his head at his mother.

"I don't hate anybody." he said in a tired voice, only now looking around himself.

Rafael cried even harder when Jack's eyes stopped on him and Miko. Big fat tears rolled down his cheeks and he had his glasses off, swiping at his face with his sleeve and looking like he should be back in bed. Jack smiled a little weakly at him and stepping away from his mother, he slowly walked over to his two friends.

"Raf, it's over." he said. But Rafael was a inconsolable and he turned away from everyone but Bumblebee, who stood by close at hand. He started walking away and Bumblebee went with him. Miko, who had had both hands on his shoulders, was left standing there and she looked back at Jack.

Of them all, _her_ eyes were different and her silently loyalty to Jack moved him. Ironically though, it was June that decided things for the two of them as she looked at Miko standing there so proud and beautiful in front of her son.

"Miko? Take Jack to medical. I'll be right there." She said and Jack was mildly surprised as the younger woman came forward and took his good arm across her shoulders.

"Can you walk?" She asked simply. "How we doin'?"

Jack smiled down at her. Just her. Then Miko led him away.

Ratchet came forward, the landbridge still swirling behind Optimus.

"And where does that leave us?" He said, nodding at the still open vortex. Optimus looked down at June Darby who turned to stare back up at him. Much was exchanged between the two of them, with nothing really needing to be said.

"Close the bridge." June replied.

**ooo **

Jack was slowly shuffling away with Miko, who said nothing but pressed herself close to him.

"Miss me?" He tried a grin on for size as he looked down at her again. She looked up at him for a second before her stare dropped to the dirty smile spreading all over his face.

"Uh huh." She stopped with a nod, wanting to kiss him. "I was gonna call you." she said, slipping out from under his arm. She steadied him then, making sure he could stay on his feet as they faced each other. "But you have my phone." she finished saying.

"Uh huh." He said and slipped his own phone out of one pocket with his good hand. "Let's see where it is." he said. And with little preamble, as Miko looked on, he cycled through the list of his contacts with his thumb and speed dialed her number.

**ooo**

Far off in her lair, Airachnid watched the landbridge spiral shut and she lowered her head down weakly, slumping over on her one side. She wasn't to sure what she was going to do now. She hadn't quite expected the Autobots to leave her like this.

But she would live.

_Oh yes_, _she would live_. And she would one day have her revenge. She heard a sound then, a ringing, and it happened to be coming from nearby. Form one of the backpacks Jack Darby had been carrying. The one she had cut from his back? It lay near to hand among the scene of their struggle.

_Why would it be ringing?_

Airachnid frowned and reached over to drag it close to her with one jointed arm, leaning on her elbow and struggling to yank the small pack open for a look inside.

Two things happened after that. The phone would ring only two more times and Airachnid would only ever say two more words in her life.

On the first ring, she saw the four heavy blocks of C4, bristling with detonators and wired into a pink cellphone that was tied around them with thick loops of plasma flash cord.

_ "I'm not taking any more." Jack had said back over the link as he stuffed a fourth block of C4 into a second backpack. "This is their special issue plasma stuff!"_

_ Miko had leaned over Rafael, watching Jack on the laptop's monitor, and sassed him a little. "Just a bit more! They haven't missed any of your rockets!"_

_ "That's different!" Jack's voice crackled back at her. _

_ "You guys don't fight!" Rafael had pleaded, nervous as ever, as the three of them secretly raided the CIA armory together for the first time. _

_ Miko looked down at him. _

_ "We probably won't even need it." She said with a huff. _

On the second ring, the phone's screen lit up with a picture of none other than Jack Darby himself.

He looked healthy. Standing in the sun and smiling.

"Oh, shit!" Airachnid cried.

And then she exploded.

Her lair went up with her. Catastrophically. Whatever fuel stockpiles or vile weapons she had hoarded there touched off as well and blew out the entire hanger like a house of cards. Thick, super heated balls of flaming plasma rolled out and over the ground, sucking back and mushrooming upwards, burning with their own chain reaction and setting the closest trees on fire while blowing down most of them surrounding shacks. The whole area would burn so hotly for the next three hours, emergency crews would have to resort to fly-overs to dose the flames.

By morning, nothing would remain but the charred remains of the building's broken framework, poking up from the ashes like half melted blackened bones.

And Airachnid's wretched spark was extinguished forever.

**ooo**

Back at the base, Jack Darby ended the call and slipped his phone back into his pocket. He didn't say anything or offer any explanation and Miko didn't ask. But she smiled ever so slightly. She was pleased at their handy work. Just the two of them. And she never felt closer to him. But all she wanted to do now was to get him fixed up.

As she slipped back under his good arm, he held still long enough to get her attention and she looked up at him again. For a moment they stood there, waiting, just staring at each other. And then, as expected, behind them Ratchet suddenly called out that he was monitoring a _plasma_ explosion back at the sight of Jack's bridge coordinates.

This interrupted Optimus and his mother and whatever they had been discussing and they both of them looked to Ratchet, each other, and then slowly over at Jack, who had turned his head just enough to stare back at them. His look never wavered as he waited to catch their eye.

And then, without saying a word, Jack turned away with Miko.

"Now it's over." He said quietly.

And together they walked away.

_**Not the end! Not yet! Unlike other things that wrongfully ended before their time, my TFP story will go on. Stay tuned and thanks for reading!**_


	47. Trouble

**Trouble**

_A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it._

_ - Jean de La Fontaine._

Jack had to pay the piper two days later and it came in the form of a black-ops helicopter. One minute he was standing in the cafeteria eating another 'endless doughnut' and then two agents were there, asking him to accompany them.

He knew immediately they were the real deal. He had never seen them before and there was something that set them apart from the field agents at the base.

What a moment that had been. Standing there with his cast in a sling, holding a styrofoam cup of milk and feeling a strange thrill of excitement mix with sudden dread. But he was glad for something to finally give. The time spent at base since he had faced down and annihilated Airachnid were some of the most awkward and uneasy hours of his life.

As predicated, he was in a world of hurt from his duplicity and appropriating explosives from the CIA arsenal. Things just couldn't be explained or swept under the carpet anymore, despite their best efforts to keep Jack out of trouble.

Along with Miko and Rafael, Jack had turned everything over to agent Fowler and the Autobots about their secret hunt for Airachnid, including how they even captured an ambush 'frisbee-con' and had brought it back to base.

But for Jack to pull a fast one on the Autobots and actually track her down and destroy her that very night had been so out of character for him that no one really knew what to do about it.

He was already in hot water for Rafael ending up in medical after their disastrous meddling with the VR3 machine in an attempt to revive the comatose Arcee. And there were a few other things salted in there as well to add up to one big 'screwed the pooch' for Jackson Darby.

He really didn't care. Not about himself anyway, although it stung a bit that Rafael was in some trouble for his part. Miko too. And that he may have irrevocably changed team Prime for the worst after all, even after all his efforts to save it.

It was the duplicity. The lying. The secrecy. People who knew him felt awkward around him like he was a different person, with even his mother suffering a strange uncertainty. Not that she wasn't all for her son, she just had to work through what brought the two of them to this and her part in it all. It was pleasant for her but what else could she do?

Yet he had his supporters and surprisingly it was among the Autobots. Wheeljack had been the most helpful. As far as being duped right along with Optimus Prime so Jack could head out and blow away Airachnid himself, the rogue warrior had merely laughed and said "Nice one, kid." Bulkhead too had tried, in his protective way, to point out that Jack was safe at home and they were finally rid of Airachnid. So what was the big deal? Even Ratchet couldn't help but agree, showing that deep down he harbored his own strong resentments and desire for justice, more curious as to what Jack may have learned from Airachnid than anything to do with his behavior in killing her.

And that's where the sting began.

Prime had said nothing. Absolutely nothing. And it wasn't lost on him that some of his Autobots approved of Jack's nefarious ways. His complete lack of response and deep silence since that night in Central hit Jack like a physical blow. He barely spoke to anyone and if it was to anyone at all, it was to June or agent Fowler in private.

But truthfully it was the people around Jack that reacted the most strongly. The humans. The field agents particularly. They showed Jack nothing but a polite formality that spoke of things being a little ominous for him and of course it was stressed _aggressively_ that he was back under a loose 'house arrest'.

_Aggressively_ being agent Fowler, who had to turn right back around in his helicopter on his way to Dallas when it became clear that Jack Darby had snuck out in the last few hours he had been at base and had blown up a lumber camp somewhere in Oregon.

But the man was strangely calm about the whole matter, though extremely cool towards Jack once he had informed himself of the goings on. Even when everyone had all started talking at once. Then he had officially ordered them all to stay on base and _shut up the sam hill up and go to bed_ until such time things were sorted out.

After that, everyone tried to go back to normal but it was no good. Agent Fowler disappeared and June had her own 'oil and water' mix of worry, guilt, pride and vindication to take back home. And Miko and Rafael were on base, but kept discretely apart from Jack.

_Discrete_ had equaled _blatant_ for Miko and she had been positively defiant. She was flat out challenging, firing off demands and accusations and claiming none of them were criminals and if she felt like seeing Jack or going out for pizza she would.

The agents let her. The best way to handle her was to let her think she was getting her way and since Jack was cooperating and staying put, she really didn't matter.

_ They had bigger fish to fry _he had thought to himself.

But then there was Rafael and that was perhaps the worst of all. His mother was one thing. Again, her instinct for Jack's safety had trumped everything else and at the last he knew that she was determined to go down with him if it came to that. And so her love and loyalty was intact. But it was different for the more soft hearted Rafael.

He was inconsolable about what he viewed as having betrayed Jack and let them all down. Despite what anyone tried to tell him, he wouldn't talk with anyone and spent all his time with Bumblebee. And if anyone tried to get anything out of him, he would grow quiet and just stare a hole right through them before being allowed to go back to his game. Bumblebee, not knowing what else to do, gently kept everyone away for him for the most part and tried to distract Rafael with all manner of things.

Jack just didn't know what to do about Raf. The gentle little soul might have paid the highest price of all. He hadn't wanted to go behind the Autobot's back and he hadn't wanted to disappoint Jack either, but the former had passively forced him to go against his convictions until the two paths had collided and blew up in his face. Being put between such a rock and a hard place as Jack had forced upon him might have broken his spirit for in the end he was caught red handed with his laptop and blamed himself unreasonably for the trouble that followed.

_ What would happen when he heard about this? _

Jack sighed and looked down at the mesas of Nevada zipping by a few hundred feet below and adjusted his sling a little without looking. No more exo-frame for him. Just a tough, plain fiberglass wrap up to his shoulder that Miko had spent the better part of a day decorating as they had to hurry up and wait. Ratchet had said he could easily fix Jack up with another exo-frame that very night with June and agent Fowler in attendance. But at some point it had been silently agreed upon between the nurse and the agent that Jack wasn't going to be allowed any toys for awhile. The old Autobot hadn't really understood.

It didn't matter. Jack had no real need of one anymore and he just felt tired.

Miko had been wonderful. Jack wondered if anyone had been watching them on camera, in his room, when the next day she had started in on Jack's cast with her markers and pens. Kneeling there next to him on his bed in an achingly hot little outfit of tights, tank top and boots, she had kept busy with her designs while letting Jack's hands keep busy with _her. _

She had been hovering over him in a way that he could easily play with her boobs and he had done so. Generously. If they were watching, let them. He had enough of being paranoid and Miko seemed to feel the same way. In fact, she had dressed rather provocatively and seemed to be taking to living dangerously like a fish to water. She made no secret of it that she had wanted Jack to touch her between her legs too as she did a little rubbing of her own, but only the gravity of the situation kept anything else from happening. Then she talked about her up and coming eighteenth birthday. He had tried to stay upbeat for her sake, since she resolutely made it clear he would be there. She would accept nothing less.

Then they had come for him the next morning...and it really didn't look that way now.

At least they had waited until he was alone. Miko and Raf were back home for the day and his mom was at work and only Ratchet had been on call in Central. They hadn't left _through_ Central though, his escort taking Jack up to the roof quickly by way of the service elevator. He didn't waste any time protesting. He wasn't even sure if Ratchet knew what was going on, or if he could have done anything about it anyway, and he wasn't in a hurry to put the old Autobot to the test. He had had enough of putting his friends in a hard spot.

Obviously someone, somewhere, knew what was happening and he was determined to make a good showing of himself no matter what happened.

But again, as for what would happen when his friends and family _did _find out about this helicopter ride...that was the thing that stung Jack the most.

He dropped his head back against the padded frame of the helicopter seat where he sat by the window, riding shotgun with his two sombre escorts.

The miles rolled on.

**Thank you all for your continued interest and reviews. What lies in store for Jack Darby now? Stay tuned! More to come by weeks end! The story goes on! - Prander**


	48. Eye of the Beholder

**Eye of the Beholder**

To be honest, Jack expected a cold, concrete room with a pale light overhead and a couple of folding chairs sitting at a stainless steel table. Or worse, a small, windowless cell that they would shove him into before slamming a steel door behind him.

He hadn't expected a conference room.

His escorts had been such stone faced cliches you could hardly blame him. And after they had landed, he had an all to real urge to make some smart ass comment about being in trouble for eating their doughnuts. And yet things were serious enough that he stopped himself from doing so and instead just tried to keep calm, telling himself that this wasn't the movies.

The two agents escorting him never touched him after the helicopter set down. They merely indicated he should accompany them just by their body language alone. One in front and one behind and stopping at several checkpoints, Jack just followed along, waiting patiently as the one swiped his key-card through several doors leading further into the building. No sense in provoking anyone. He was in trouble enough already.

The headquarters of the CIA here in Dallas looked like a tall insurance building from the outside, all glass and steel, and when they passed down a long hallway and into some bustling offices, Jack took another look around.

There were plenty of people here up on this level. Clerks, secretaries, agents and the like. All of them classically nondescript in their apparel, all of them armed, and all of them paying not the slightest attention to him.

So while it may not have been like the movies, it still_ felt _like the movies and the whole thing was a little ominous.

He only went a short distance before the leading agent stopped at a heavy wood door with the number nineteen on it. He promptly opened it and stood to one side, indicating Jack should go in. He did so, and without another word, the man closed the door behind him. And just like that Jack was alone. He turned back and took in the room he was left in, what there was to see.

No torture rack or mirrored walls. Just a nice oak table and ten padded chairs, five on each side, and the room was carpeted from floor to ceiling like something out of a bank, comfortable and quiet. He could appreciate that much at least, and a bit of a loss, he pulled out a chair near the door and sat down. He knew better than to try and leave. He was beyond certain that his two escorts were still out there, standing on either side of the door and looking serious.

Only the CIA could make a person feel like a guest and a prisoner at the same time and maybe the days of interrogation rooms and dunk tanks were long past.

Or maybe they weren't.

Nothing was for certain except that he was here for a reason. A reason he tried not to think about. But then, they hadn't even patted him down.

He didn't have to wait long when someone stopped just outside the door and promptly let themselves in. In truth, he had expected agent Fowler, but the agent that came into the room didn't appear to be that much older than Jack himself. He wore a dark blue suit and nice tie and with that, he was just as nondescript as everyone else, right down to his neutral expression. He was a little pale though, off set even more so by his short, dark curly hair and it looked like he spent a lot of time in conference rooms like this.

He paused for a moment, still holding the door open and appraising Jack, who stared back at him levelly.

The strange thing was, even though he wasn't much older, a greater feeling of age came more from his eyes than his appearance. He may have looked fresh faced and young, but you couldn't help but feel there was more to him about the eyes, which were an oddly pale blue. One could say it looked as if he had seen his share of things that the public wasn't privy too. Despite himself, it was all Jack could do not to scoff. He had a share of that look himself.

Still, he felt that ominous feeling return, and he was surprised at how much on the way here he had counted on running into agent Fowler at some point. But before he could begin to think about whether or not he took the old war horse for granted, the newcomer stepped fully into the room and turned to close the door behind him.

"Good morning, Mr. Darby. Nice of you to join us." he said, without looking, his tone betraying nothing.

"Did I have a choice?" Jack heard himself answer as the man turned back around.

Without offering his hand, he stepped around to the opposite side of the table and without another word pulled out his own chair. But not before he laid a single manilla folder on the table. And it was with little surprise that Jack could see 'Top Secret' stamped across it in bold, red military font.

"Well, if that just doesn't beat all." Jack looked up from the folder. "Is this where you take out a recorder and set up a mic or something?"

"You're quite talkative." The man observed quietly as he sat down. "A change from when they brought you here." Once seated, he scooted his chair closer and steepled his fingers, resting his arms on the table. He stared at Jack quietly.

"I suppose that shows how nervous I am." Jack replied, holding the mans stare.

"Yes, actually." the man answered mildly. "It does."

Jack didn't deny it. "All right...I am. To a point. But I was thinking more about my mom and my friends and what they must be thinking."

"I assumed you would be."

"So why am I here then?" Jack frowned. "Was the helicopter really necessary?"

"The CIA thought you would appreciate the gesture so you could understand the seriousness of your situation." The other man answered simply. "And in this instance, we think it more appropriate that you were brought to us."

"So...I'm in some real trouble here." Jack sighed, resisting the compulsion to slump back in his seat.

"Do you think you should be?" The man asked quietly, giving him an expectant look. He seemed genuinely curious even though such an absurd question made Jack scoff a little.

"Oh, _come_ _on_." he said.

"It would be interesting to see what you're willing to admit to." the man continued. Jack just stared at him for a moment, trying to gauge what kind of game they wanted to play here. It already felt strange being in these surroundings. The carpeted room with it's expensive furniture muted almost all sound from the offices outside the door and it was at odds with how _un_comfortable he felt. And this agent was oddly self assured and calm where one should have expected plenty of government glowering. Jack decided to throw a curve ball of his own, seeing as how he suddenly had an urge to laugh out loud.

"To tell you the truth, mister." he gave the man a tired smirk. "I wouldn't know where to begin or what to admit to first."

The man showed the tiniest hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth.

"Well, that won't be necessary." he replied.

"Meaning what exactly?"

"Meaning we know about what you've been up too. This hunting of Vehicons and the destruction of the rogue Decepticon Airachnid. To put it more precisely, we know how you've been taking liberties with the CIA armory at the Autobot base to achieve that end."

Jack felt his stomach turn over a little, but really could he have expected any less? Blowing up a lumber camp with special issue C4 wasn't exactly subtle. And he had racked up a grocery list of trouble in such quick order lately, it was no use hoping Fowler could get him out of this. And it wouldn't have been fair either. So he wasn't about to carry on or act innocent. He just wished he had a glass of water handy, though he didn't ask for one.

"What else?" He said, trying to keep his voice level, but feeling his chest tighten up anyway.

"Should there be more?" The man replied again. Jack found his manner quickly infuriating, sincere or not. But he didn't answer.

When he noted that Jack had nothing more to add, the man went on. "Anyway, you should know that such a thing can land you in a jail cell for twenty years." he said with a tilt of his head at the folder.

"Uh huh. So that's that, then." Jack said, feeling a little nauseous and only _now _letting himself slump back in his seat.

"Where's agent Fowler?" he couldn't help but ask anyway, unable to keep his voice from sounding dejected.

"I expected you to ask for agent Fowler much sooner." the man answered. "Interesting."

"Oh really."

"Yes. You must see how the lack of his presence lends severity to your situation."

"Just how many times are you going to tell me I'm in trouble?" Jack managed to scowl.

"Would it make a difference to you?" The man again answered him rather strangely.

Jack sighed and mentally, he just shrugged it all off. He suddenly felt rather tired from where he sat and it had nothing to do with his comfortable seat. He felt that strange detachment settle back over him, nudging out his his foreboding, now that they had come to it. It was the same feeling he had since he had annihilated Airachnid. He hadn't thought on it much, and so he really didn't know _why_ he felt this way...he just knew he didn't feel any better. Sitting there, confronted with a world of hurt hidden inside his very own file at the CIA, he supposed it was because now that he had his revenge, it ended up feeling like he had nothing at all. Or he was about to end up that way.

Talk about cliches.

But at least Airachnid was finally dead. Having thought that, and along with everything else this morning, Jack found that he wasn't really all that interested in playing along. Somehow he felt beyond whatever the 'powers that be' could do to him. Sure, he had been nervous and intimidated at first, but now he just felt tired, having ended up here of all places. The aura wore off pretty quickly, considering all that he had been through, and again all that kept him interested now was how this would impact his friends and family.

For himself though, he really didn't give a damn and he decided then and there how he would enter to this, whatever they had planned for him. He even said so.

"I've gotten pretty good at not giving a damn. I just don't want this washing back on my mom and my friends. Do I get to see Fowler or not? Or is there something you want me to sign?"

The man looked thoughtful.

"That could be arranged." he replied slowly.

"Fowler?"

"Signing a form." he paused. "If that's what you wish." Another pause. "You would do so? Even if it meant prison?" He seemed a touch surprised as he asked this.

Jack didn't feel like taking on whatever roll this guy had in mind.

"Just get on with it, okay? Of _course_ I don't want to go to prison but what's done is done." he shook his head a little and sat back again. But he still managed to look the guy in the eye.

The mans expression didn't even change but in an odd way, it almost felt like he approved of Jack's sullen defiance.

"You're not under arrest." he said after a moment.

"Not _yet, _anyway." Jack snorted. Changing his mind, he sat up and tried to cross his arms, but all he managed to do was to tuck his left hand under his cast. He sat there hugging himself, his face a mask of his own.

"I'm authorized to tell you right now it's not going to come to that." The man said. "For more reasons than one."

"Really." Jack dead-panned, staring across the table at him. "Are you serious?"

"Completely."

"So I'm _not _in trouble?"

"That remains to be seen."

"How so?"

"Depends on where we go from here. There are degrees of trouble."

"And who decides that? You?" Jack prompted, having sense enough to know that some pretty angry people here at the CIA must be listening. Maybe even watching.

"I'm not at liberty to say." the man replied.

Jack frowned again. He was trying to reason out how much the CIA actually knew. And he was trying to do so without having to ask for details because with _this_ guy it oddly felt like asking for agent Fowler had somehow been a misstep. He had expected something a little more cliched, for lack of a better word. But again the strangers quiet manner was at odds with what had to be a silver bullet for Jack in that folder. He was to calm. Was that a bad sign? Was he getting ready to really nail Jack to the wall? Or was it something more? Jack then had a horrible thought that they probably knew more than they were letting on. Wasn't that always the case?

Now wouldn't _that_ be ironic. Having all his efforts fall to nothing by being shown a pornographic surveillance video courtesy of the CIA. He even pictured the guy turning in his chair and lowering a wall panel to show a TV screen of him and Arcee having sex.

_Christ almighty._

Well...he couldn't do anything about that now, could he? And that would just be the icing on the cake, wouldn't it? He was still in trouble and Arcee was still brain dead...or worse. And all the weeks of struggle and heartache hadn't changed a thing. Not for himself anyway. Was the CIA going to help him with any of that? Did they care about Arcee? Were they going to be grateful Airachnid was dead? Pretty unlikely. They must be officially pissed. And thinking that, he got a little of his balance back.

"Just what kind of trouble _am _I in then?" he couldn't help but ask. "I didn't know it was against the law to blow away Cons."

The man smiled slightly, as if he had expected Jack to say that.

"What would you say if I told you that's the reason you are _not_ in handcuffs?" he replied. "But first...a point to make." and he began talking before Jack could even think to reply. "You should know that the government is rather powerless in the Transformer war. The very one you've been right in the middle of. We're dealing with a million year old war here with beings of technology so far beyond our understanding its humbling to say the least."

He paused a moment. When Jack made to speak, he continued as if he hadn't noticed.

"The CIA has been kept in what amounts to just an advisory roll...while being expected to commit considerable military might." He nodded at the door as he spoke. "That being said, Optimus Prime has made it clear that if Megatron had command of the resources he controlled on Cybertron, he could have crushed _all _of mankind's forces in less than a week."

He stared at Jack for a heartbeat.

"Not a pleasant reminder of just how outclassed we are, hmm? And all that stops him now is a handful of freedom fighters and the humans they have deigned to associate with." he paused. "Namely you." He shifted now, laying his hands flat on the table with his fingers resting on the edge of the manilla folder.

"One Jackson Darby of Jasper, Nevada. They very same man who annihilated the rogue Decepticon Airachnid three nights ago. Quite a major player in this war. But more to the point, you were the first one the Autobots interacted with and now you happen to be the first one to kill a Transformer. On your own."

If his sudden delivery was meant to keep Jack off balance it worked. Jack had meant to ask what the agent meant about not being cuffs but now his mouth snapped shut when his thoughts were brought back to Airachnid.

"And I would do it again." he said immediately. "What do you want me to say? You know everything, right? And if you need proof, go sift through the ashes and bring me back a junk of the bitch."

The man didn't reply, he just listened quietly, his expression neutral again. Jack sighed, his resentment fading as quickly as it had flared up.

"Well, so what? For that matter, Miko took out an Insecticon one time." Jack went on. "So I'm not the first."

"If I didn't know any better, I would say that sounds like your making an excuse." The man replied. Again, it was a strange comment to make and Jack felt disgusted.

"That's a fuck of a thing to say. And it's not what I meant."

"So you wish to make it sound as if it's not a big deal hunting down Decepticons?"

"What are you, a lawyer? My point is it's happened before."

"Not under these conditions. Although I will grant that your motives are comparable to the girls."

"Is that so?" Jack made a face.

"Your methods however, are not."

"Ah, yes." Jack grumped. "My _A' la carte_ with the armory. At least someone got a use out of it."

"At what point did you think it should be you?" The man asked immediately. Jack was taken back a bit but then he rallied.

"Christ, are you going to get to it? Or do we keep playing magic eight ball?"

At that the man actually fought down a real smile. Jack frowned, a little perplexed. He had pictured this turning out much differently. What's with this guy? Maybe he _had _seen to many movies. Then the anonymous agent regained his composure, those pale eyes growing serious again.

"Very well, now we come to it. The first step to understanding why you're sitting in that chair this morning and _not_ in a jail cell would be to try and see this through official eyes. I know that's not an easy thing to do, but try and see how for the last four years we have a group of intergalactic beings that cooperate with us just out of the goodness of their hearts while we back up their war. And they try and understand us by interacting with civilians. Children. If it was anyone else other than the Autobots we would have felt dangerously snubbed. But regardless, the lack of any real authority, due to that decision, has become unconscionable to an institution like the CIA."

"What's that got to do with me?" Jack asked.

"You're in a position we have come to think is important to encourage. Especially now, given the rise of recent circumstances."

Jack's eyebrows went up. He couldn't have been more surprised.

"Encourage? A minute ago you let me feel the heat of my sticky fingers."

"Not all encouragement is positive." The man answered smoothly. "This is all about timing. And also about getting you out from under the base so we can have a real discussion with you."

"About what exactly? Blackmail?" Jack probed.

"Don't be obtuse. The point is you're the one who just happens to have stepped up his game lately." The man nodded, motioning at Jack's cast and the cuts and bruises healing on his face and hands. "Stepped it up in a very direct and personal manner. The girl firing off a rocket into an Insecticon, when she shouldn't have even been there in the first place, is one thing. Deliberately hunting them down and taking them on is another. Your behavior has been nothing short of amazing."

Jack was relieved that this agent hadn't taken his meaning about blackmail. _Sexual _blackmail. He admonished himself for being a little paranoid, but he didn't expected to hear 'amazing' when it came to his hunting down Airachnid. _Incriminating _would have been more likely. But things were branching off here in a different directions, and he held onto his worry for the moment.

"Amazing? How so? By almost getting _myself_ killed?" he snorted.

"Doesn't change the facts. Or the results."

Jack couldn't believe what he was hearing and because of that he couldn't quite shake loose from his sullen flippancy.

"Why don't I think you have a medal in your pocket?" he sassed.

"You'd be right." the man replied, completely unfazed. "And consider this. Aside from _telling_ you just now that we know you've been raiding the armory, just how long do you _think_ we've known?" he added coolly. Jack mulled that over for a second and was surprised he hadn't thought of it earlier.

"From the start, I suppose."

"Exactly." The man answered. "And it should tell you something that no one stepped in to stop you."

"How come?" Jack couldn't help but ask.

"So we could see where you would take it." the man replied, his expression never changing.

"Well I guess you _saw_ where, right?" Jack grimaced, unsure whether to be satisfied with his actions or mortified. He fought to keep his balance with this guy.

"We saw." the man answered with a single nod.

"And you want to _encourage_ that." Jack said it more as statement than in the form of a question.

"Yes. Because the CIA is still where it's always been and that's on the sidelines. You know about being on the sidelines, don't you, mister Darby?"

Jack reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers, sighing heavily. He dropped his hand and stared at the table for a moment before looking up. "Look, from where you're sitting I'm sure this all makes perfect sense to you, but just what do you mean by _encourage_?"

"What we've been waiting for is someone who is going to start fighting this war the way it needs it to be fought. At the same time they're part of that inner circle." the man answered without even batting an eye. He didn't have to explain what inner circle he meant. "You're that man, Jack. Whether you know it or not." he finished

"Me? What about agent Fowler?" Jack sputtered.

"Despite the Autobot's trust in him, it's not agent Fowler. They have always deferred to him in an official capacity and today is not the day to break down the psychology of Optimus Prime for you and how he keeps the CIA at arms length. That being said, agent Fowler himself admits that he is the most official unofficial member of team Prime. Using his words. But in comparison, your position is distinctly different from his. It's more viable to us and agent Fowler agrees."

Jack felt sick in more ways than one now. Viable? A few things clicked and suddenly he didn't like where this was going.

"Where _is_ agent Fowler? Does he know about all this?"

"Of course he does." the man smiled disarmingly.

If Jack had been wearing a suit of his own, he might have tugged at his _own_ tie, much as agent Fowler did from time to time. He felt decidedly squirmy just then, finding himself vaguely on opposite sides of the table with William Fowler for the first time in four years. It wasn't a pleasant feeling. Sometimes it was easy to forget ol' Fowler was the real deal himself. Certified CIA all the way. The man let that sink in for a moment from where Jack sat.

"It's not a pleasant moment to reap what you sow, is it?" he said with surprising insight. All Jack could do was frown again.

"Yeah, ok. Where is he then?"

"We'll get to that. But the fact is these days, on an hourly basis, there's talk about what's to be done with you. The only thing keeping you out of the hot seat _is_ agent Fowler...and your connection with the Autobots. So it may ease your mind to know he is still on your side."

"Go figure. So do I get to home now?"

Jack guessed that was one to many smart ass replies after all. The man's almost indetectable good will vanished and the change in him was disquieting. "You can quit with the bravado and stop avoiding. Nobody condoned what you've been up to. This isn't some sanctioned move to recover a relic or explain away the girl being in some foreign museum after hours. What you've been up to sent some pretty high ranking eyebrows through the roof."

"You sound like my mother." Jack couldn't help but wise crack one more time. The man took it coolly as ever.

"Quite." he said, his own voice dead-pan now.

"All right...so what happens _now_?" Jack prompted again with some exasperation of his own, telling himself to calm down but unable to help himself.

"That's up to you. Each step of the way there's been a team analyzing your actions and the point was constantly up for debate whether you had gone completely rogue, or were proceeding exactly towards something we needed."

"Oooh yeah, that's right." Jack said, unable to help the sarcasm. "Are you trying to recruit me or something?"

"Is it possible?" the man asked immediately. He sounded serious even at the same time his question was meant to be rhetorical.

Jack said nothing. The man smirked just a tiny bit, as if he knew he was cornering the infamous Jack Darby.

"Back on point, it was noted that while you did indeed decide the ends could justify the means, you were also _painfully_ aware of what you were doing. Not to mention a surprising aptitude for the high tech weapons you took for your own use."

"You pick up a few things." Was all Jack could answer.

"To be honest, going against Autobot concerns and taking matters into your own hands is what got our attention. That showed surprising character."

"Character. You think so?" Jack's self-loathing was evident.

"You may think you've been a little devious and underhanded here, but your regret was a bit obvious to the people that know about these things." the man went on. "And that proved you're still a person of conscience but also that you were willing to take your fate in your own hands. Frankly, you've really been walking the razors edge between right and wrong. I can imagine it's been quite a trial."

"This is all starting to sound like your reading from a psychological profile." Jack frowned again.

When the man said nothing in return, he as much as confirmed it, and Jack sighed, resisting the urge to rub his temples.

"Jesus." he mumbled, slumping in his seat again.

"There's more." the man added. "That part you told the Autobots and agent Fowler about being benched. Sidelined, yes? That that was actually a point in your favor among your supporters."

"I have supporters?"

"Because you were right in how you said the Autobots have been fighting alongside more and more of our forces and how your own involvement was greatly reduced." the man didn't even miss a beat. "That brought to light what I already mentioned. How we commit substantial military might but it's given over solely on faith. And we still lack any and all real influence, as well. You showed sound reasoning for you and your friends and it was surprising to hear one of the core members think this way. But our surprise was even greater when you took it upon yourself to act. Especially in the manner you have."

Jack processed all this, a little overwhelmed. He had never really let himself think about any other outcome to his actions other than the worst. He knew he had been breaking a lot of rules with a lot of people and he did it anyway. And he was willing to face the music if ever he was found out. What with _his_ conscience, he was expecting it. Maybe even welcoming it. But he had _never _counted on the possibility that those self same 'powers that be' might view his actions a bit differently. A man of conscience indeed...but he guessed the CIA had different ideas about him. And about the war.

"And now?"

"Now things are different for you. Optimus Prime is in fact_ hindered _by his virtues as much as they set him a cut above the rest." the man went on. "Whether he admits it or not, he needs to have certain kinds of individuals around him that will fulfill that role when it's called for." he deftly steered Jack's thoughts, even as they came to him.

"You mean the ones that will actually kill." Jack answered.

"Simply put, yes. We had plenty to go on when it came to warriors like Wheeljack and fighters like Bumblebee. And sometimes even _Arcee._ Autobots that could make the call. Do what what Optimus Prime couldn't bring himself to do. What surprised us was you. At first, Arcee learned more from you than you from her. She grew more tolerant and a patient and caring but then things went down with Airachnid like they have and...well, let's just says you've come a long way in the last four years and that's why you were allowed to help yourself and do a little hunting of your own. And that's why you've been brought here now."

Jack let out a puff of air. "This sounds all well and good about how I have _proven_ myself to you and all, but you're forgetting how lately I've damaged my reputation with the Autobots. Particularly Optimus."

The man smiled patiently this time.

"Jack, I've brought up Optimus Prime because you need to realize the Autobot leader knows_ himself_ better than anybody. He knows he's fighting a war_._ And deep down in his spark, he knows he needs individuals like you. And you need to realize the Autobots have their own measure of guilt and regret for allowing Airachnid to get away with what she did. For them, it always comes back to their war spilling over onto mankind. And now they're beginning to see that we humans have a right to defend ourselves. That their protection is detrimental at times where it concerns the significance of their war here on Earth."

"Are you telling me Optimus condones my killing of Airachnid? Sneaking around behind his back? Compromising security and keeping secrets?" Jack was incredulous.

"He may not like it, but you underestimate his ability to understand it." the agent replied. "And, in his own unique way, forgive it. Agent Fowler has assisted him in this. If you want to believe anything of Optimus Prime, it's that he learns from his mistakes."

"You sound as if you know him."

"We've met. It was necessary."

"Because of me?"

The agent just smiled noncommittally.

Jack was floored a little, having spent two days wondering what the fall-out would actually be and hearing something totally different.

"Wow. I mean, I would think after all I have done, _no_ _one _would trust me anymore." He said, feeling a little dizzy.

"Again you're overlooking the fact that those very Autobots, who _we_ have_ no_ authority with, favor you, your mother, Miko and Rafael. For whatever reasons they do, there's no denying it. That's your biggest get out of jail free card of all. We can't just bring the hammer down on you without having a pretty good reason why when it would be Optimus Prime asking the questions. That makes you invaluable all the more so to those self same higher ups here at the CIA."

Jack pursed his lips. He looked at this anonymous agent a little chagrined.

"You could sell me out." He suggested. "Tell him everything. He might then bend to human law."

"Interesting how you suddenly want to implicate yourself. But all that would do is isolate ourselves from the Autobots even more. How smart do you think that would be?"

Jack said nothing, he just looked back down at the table, but his face was thoughtful. The agent studied him.

"I know what you must be thinking. It's a pretty powerful position being his friend, isn't it? But you're smart enough to know that _doesn't_ give you free reign to keep pushing everyone's tolerance. If you take my meaning."

Jack looked up and and ran his hand back through his hair with a sigh.

"I did what I set out to do." He said. He gestured thinly in the air with his good hand. "If you really want to know the truth, I feel hollowed out. I figured my days at the base were done and that this was it when your people brought me here this morning. I had no other plans. I still don't."

"We know that. You played at being rogue, but you're to good a man to go bad. That's why you're just what we need. In just the position we need."

"And just what _is_ that, anyway?" Jack sat up a little, it coming back to him everything that was being suggested here. "A lackey? A spy? Do I get sworn in or something?"

"Nothing so dramatic." The man replied. " You stay just who you are. As simple as that. In a way you're being groomed to take agent Fowler's place but with a much deeper 'in' than we've ever had before."

"Does agent Fowler know that?"

The man just smiled that smile.


	49. Fowler

**Fowler**

Jack never bothered to ask if it was timed or not, but just then agent Fowler himself came through the door as he let himself into the room. Despite himself, Jack blinked in surprise, having gotten used to the fact he was talking with this anonymous agent and how that made him feel under a much more direct scrutiny. It had been a regular fencing match with so many sudden changes in direction that for a moment he forget he was in trouble. It was subtle but it was true and he supposed it had all been on purpose, this frank and direct way of handling him with even some familiarity sprinkled in. Now Fowler's presence wouldn't be so contrived. And they had Jack's full attention.

"Jesus." Jack said when he saw the other man. The other agent continued to study him even as Fowler shut the door behind him.

"He wasn't invited." The old war horse answered him as he turned back around from closing the door. He was carrying a folder too.

"This is turning out to be one helluva morning." Jack grimaced as Fowler came around behind the first man and pulled out a chair of his own next to him.

"You ain't seen nothin' yet." Fowler declared as he sat down a bit more heavily. The old operative wasted no time, and after setting down his own folder, he got right to it.

"What the man said is true, Jack. This is all about timing. See, now _you_ know that we know and you get to keep your head. Now _we_ know that you know and we have the kind of go-to man we need in place. That's all the lee-way you need from our end. For the moment. And from me."

"This all feels rather duplicitous." Jack said lightly.

"That's a big word and helluva thing to say, coming from you, son." Fowler admonished him with a small scowl across the table. "Don't be cute. You were brought here to make it officially unofficial. Welcome to my world."

"Doesn't surprise me you would take the longest way around to make the shortest point." Jack spared a glance at the other agent.

"You needed this." the anonymous man replied. "To be shown where you stand and how you get to _continue_ standing there."

"It's strange to hear _you _going along with this." Jack looked back at Fowler.

"Sometimes I have to do my job."

"And what if I don't want to play ball?" Jack dared ask, surprising them both. The anonymous agent's eyebrows went up in mild surprise.

"Or is this one of those 'you don't have a choice' moments?" Jack went on, looking back at him. It was something at least to see he could score a point here.

"Come on, Jack, knock it off." Fowler said after glancing at the other man. "You wouldn't be here if you didn't want to play ball. You wouldn't be fighting your own private war and you _damn_ sure wouldn't have made Airachnid eat a brick of C4. You have exactly the character we need coupled with a surprising edge to do what's necessary. Now that you're older and you're your own man. Making your own decisions. We're not asking anything else except that you be aware of what we need in this fight."

Jack said nothing.

"We're reaching an understanding here." Fowler went on. "And really, all this is not as shady as it looks. Hell, your own mother condoned you going to Cybertron several times when you were a lot younger." Fowler pointed out. "The game has changed a little is all...and you're the one who changed it. You grew up. And the Autobots know that now. Prime knows that now."

"So _nothing_ changes back at base? I just get to go home and no more questions asked as long as I am willing to take the hard seat when it counts?"

Fowler smiled just a touch. "Pretty much, though you and I will be working together a bit more closely 'when it counts'. At least when it concerns government interests. One more time, you're the kind of real go between we've been waiting for."

"Do I get my weapons back?" Jack asked. He was bordering on being a smart ass again, pushing them to see how far he could take it. But he was surprised to find a part of him actually meant it.

The anonymous agent smiled ever so slightly and Jack took this as a good sign. Fowler on the other hand, ignored the comment for the moment.

"As for everything else back home, that's on you." he continued. "You work out the wrinkles if there are any. As long as it doesn't threaten those government interests, we're not to concerned about anything else."

Jack blew out another puff of air and shook his head. "You guys sure know how to make a persons head spin."

"Be glad you get to keep yours on your shoulder." the other man said strangely, but it lacked any real threat. It just sounded matter of fact. And then he stood up abruptly, checking his wrist watch and taking back up his folder.

"Well...I think everything's been said that needed saying." He smiled, turning to Fowler. "I'll leave the rest to you, agent Fowler. Thank you for having me today." He presented his hand as Fowler got to his feet. "It has been most illuminating. I was glad for a chance to meet him and perhaps cement our mutual interests."

"The pleasure has been ours, Mr. Blackrock. You're welcome here anytime." Fowler replied, shaking his hand.

"You're _not _an agent?" Jack asked from his chair, instinctively knowing he should stay in his seat.

The man turned and looked down at Jack after finishing his handshake. "No, I'm not. I would have thought that was obvious. Perhaps you're not as sharp as I gave you credit for."

When Jack opened his mouth, the man grinned and held up a hand. "I'm kidding. It's still been a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Darby." And with that he stepped out from around his chair and made for the door. Before he left though, he did an odd thing. With one hand on the door handle, his folder in hand, he turned back and cocked a finger at Jack. Then he winked.

"Be seeing you, Jack...or maybe we won't." and then he left the room.

Fowler sat back down after the door had closed, pointedly ignoring Jack's expression. He flipped open his folder as if he was reading a menu and for a full thirty seconds he ignored Jack's obvious stare.

"Did you say Blackrock?" Jack finally managed to ask, his confusion apparent.

"Yep." Fowler was relishing the moment, without looking up. "The son of G.B Blackrock and president of Blackrock industries."

"Jesus." Jack was surprised. "The internet compares _him_ to Tony Stark."

Fowler looked up. "That's just silly. One of them is a lot richer."

"Oh, very funny. Why was _he_ here, of all people?" Jack was incredulous.

"He's the man behind the technology that went into the very toys you've been helping yourself too. Leased to the CIA under special dispensation."

"No way." Jack was stunned. "So that's what he meant. Is he mad at me or something?"

"I don't know, you should've asked him. It was his C4."

"I mean why was he...well, why was _he_ the one busting my chops?"

"He had his reasons. And he's also a professional psychologist. He volunteered to, shall we say, _debrief_ you."

"What he said about mutual interests, then. He didn't mean me. He meant himself and the CIA, right?"

Fowler kept his face neutral, but he admired Jack's insight. Blackrock had kept him on the ropes, not giving him time to think the entire time Fowler had been watching. But Jack had kept himself together better than ever.

"Yep." He answered simply, liking this young man immensely.

Jack thought about how the other man had spoken. The whole time he had never said he was working for the CIA, it had just been Jack assuming as much. Was there a point to be taken from all that? How a powerful man didn't have to be working for the CIA, he just had to be on the right side? He wondered what ramifications that had for his future, meeting the man responsible for the Chameleon armor. Vague intrigue had never been Jack's strong suit. But then again, he had a lot of practice lately. Maybe it was that very thing that got the man's attention.

But then a little of Fowler's professional jealousy kicked in as he noted Jacks touch of awe.

"He's not God, Jack. He knows a lot about you but it's strictly professional. He has no idea about you and Miko." the old devil grinned, sailing that one in deliberately to keep Jack off balance.

"For cryin' out loud." Jack was shaken out of his surprise. "You really _have_ been keeping tabs on me, haven't you?"

"Come on, now, that was just my own personal observation." Fowler waved him down. "And it's no big secret, Captain Obvious. Even Rafael knows. Am I supposed to be the last one to find out?" In fact, he had to resist leaning over and punching Jack in the arm. Jack and Miko. Who would have thought it. But it made sense really, they both were young and had grown close. They complimented each other nicely now that they were a little older. Yep, he sure had his work cut out for him now that these kids were turning into soldiers. Or operatives.

"I just said that so you would know our team is pretty much left to it's own devices. So are you. Even now. Plenty of autonomy_ and _privacy. Get me? There has to be when it comes to three story living machines. They're in a class all their own. And I think you've been knocked around enough for one day so you should know some things are still your own." He held Jack's stare for a moment, making sure he understood.

But as Fowler looked back down at his folder for a moment, he was unaware what Jack was really thinking. Again he was wondering just how _much_ was known by Fowler and the rest. Did he mean something by that about privacy? That comment about Miko had reminded him he wasn't sure at all. That and this mysterious conference with what turned out to be a very powerful man had kept it all out of his mind. He supposed he could cautiously find out from Fowler, now that he was here, if the CIA even knew about the sexual liaisons, although incredibly it appeared that they did not. And if they did, they were discretely staying out of it.

He was hoping that was the case or even better, that they really didn't know anything. Perhaps they didn't dare snoop around Autobot business to closely after all. That was the point wasn't it? Arcee was notoriously touchy about her privacy. Not to mention others like Wheeljack and Ratchet.

And now that he thought about it, if they knew there were actual, _sexual_ relationships involving him, Arcee, his mother and none other than Optimus Prime himself...well the paper that_ that _psychological write up would have ended up on would have burst into flames.

And this day would be turning out a _lot_ differently.

Was it really possible, juuuust possible, that Jack _had_ tied everything up by cutting Airachnid down?

Maybe. Jack Darby permitted himself a grim smile. On the inside.

Fowler looked up at him, acting as if nothing untoward was taking place and flipped his folder shut. Surprising himself, Jack cut to the chase.

"So what else have you been watching?" He asked, an edge to his voice and his chin set, but Fowler waved him off again.

"Come on, knock it off. Believe it or not, son, we learn all we need to know through observation and cross reference. We watch only anything that concerns our property and national security. That's it. But since we're on about that, we first noticed something was wrong when Airachnid started swiping things. To be certain, we had _no_ idea she had taken over Arcee's body. So you kind of stepped in it there when you started poking around too. We were on the lookout."

"Fuck." Jack groaned, running a hand over his face.

"Uh huh. But it's funny how things work out. It's unfortunate in that we might have noticed something strange about Arcee a lot sooner, but then _you_ might not have been allowed your time to shine."

"Okay." Jack sighed, rubbing his chin and feeling the stubble. "But I just can't believe you would fly me out here to tell me I'm not really in any kind of trouble."

"Oh? You don't think being told by the CIA that not only do they know about your actions but that they support them in an unofficial capacity is trouble enough for one day?"

Jack dropped his hand.

"Point. But this is a lot to digest. You would you have me go back to base and hop out of that same helicopter like we just went out for lunch or something?"

"I said I would handle that. This morning, where you've been and everyone else's questions for that matter. And here's how we're going to do it." With some measure of elation, he slid the new folder across to Jack.


	50. A Light in the Dark

**A light in the dark**

"What's this?" Jack leaned forward and took it with his good hand.

"That...is a write up about the VR4. Courtesy of Mr. Blackrock. The other reason he was here today. At the special request of Ratchet and Optimus Prime himself, the Autobots have asked us for help in finding a way to get inside Arcee's mind and...fix her. If it's possible. From how things went down with the VR3 and Rafael, bad as they were, don't think the results were overlooked."

For the second time that morning, maybe even the third, Jack was truly stunned.

"No way." He blurted out, feeling his stomach lurch with surprise.

"Yes, way." Fowler replied, bracing himself for what he had to say.

"That whole thing about the VR3 being built to monitor fuel pressures in jet engines? Well, as your first official clearance I've been authorized to tell you that was all a bunch of horse puckey."

"Oh wow, you knew what it could do!?" Jack looked up, shocked.

"Nope. But I'll get to that." Fowler cleared his throat. "See, there's some of that government 'worry' you've been told about. We're desperate to catch up in this new arms race and apparently the VR series is the first human attempt at copying the cortical technology of the Transformers."

"Do the Autobots know about this?"

"They're going to find out. And anyway we think the time is right, what with you and Airachnid, to play this card and give them a shot at helping Arcee. It will show openness and sincerity on the governments part and it will heal rifts in the team in more ways than one." He looked at Jack meaningfully. "Particularly for you, son."

Apparently Jack wasn't as hollowed out as he thought. More than the cloak and dagger nod from the CIA this morning, and meeting a billionaire who was his silent patron behind the scenes, the thought that he could actually mend the rift in some of his relationships back home was the other outcome he had never considered. Fowler saw this written all over his face.

"Look, I know it must seem pretty amazing that everything is suddenly working out for you, Jack, but that's what we mean by the bigger picture. We need you, you need us to need you, and the Autobots are the thing that ties it all together. But don't get us wrong. Not only is it smart to help them with Arcee...but we _want_ to."

"But hu...how the hell can this be approved after that mess with Raf?" Jack swallowed, fighting his emotions. "As you say, when it comes to the government and something goes wrong that they didn't expect, they really come down hard, right?"

"They didn't come down on _you_. And it was explained to you about all the special circumstances that dictate our dealings with the Autobots. For the last hour. Weren't you listening?" Fowler frowned half-heartedly.

"And as for the VR3, _that_ one _is _on somebody else. It really _was_ lost in the paperwork, you know, being a prototype from Blackrock Industries. And it ended up with team Prime prematurely because the department that was handling Cybertronian tech didn't pay attention."

"Shit." Jack winced. What was it like to piss off a billionaire? Had _he_ done so? Maybe not. The man seemed approving at some points in their conversation and his manner made much more sense now.

"Let's just say heads a lot more important than yours rolled for that minor over-sight and now we_ have_ to come clean." Fowler went on. "Granted, you three could have shown better judgment with all of it and you really surprised the hell out of some folks, but it was a blessing in disguise. That's when Blackrock took a personal interest in you kids." Fowler fixed his tie a little without even realizing he did so.

"And he wanted to meet you like this. Get a personal read off you I suppose, while making our position clear."

"He should really meet Rafael." Jack suggested, his mind sifting through the possibilities.

"He might." Fowler answered quietly then he straightened up some. "That being said, I've been brought up to speed about the VR series now and authorized to bring all this to Prime and his team. With conditions of course."

"Conditions?" Jack looked up from the folder.

"Enter Jack Darby. It won't be Rafael for well and very good reasons, but he'll get his shot in lending a hand."

"Lending a hand at what?" Jack asked as he looked back down at the open folder. Anything he saw there didn't make much sense but then he was pretty overwhelmed at the moment.

"Sweet Georgia pine, Jack, did you break your head along with your arm too?" Fowler reached over and tapped the folder with a knuckle as Jack held it up. "You were brought here today for more reasons than one. The VR4 is_ fully_ integrated. Phase four DCD. Deep cortical stim-dive, they call it. It's been tested enough and now it needs an operator. And a transformer to test it on. And we think, 'we' being the CIA and Blackrock Industries, that you're the man to do it...now that we've all had this little talk."

"Holy shit, are you telling me I get to...get to..."

"Yes, you do. That will be the official reason for this little impromptu drama with the helicopter this morning, But I'm glad this gave us a chance to talk about where you need to be and where we go from here on out. Like was said, you're the man Jack, whether you know it or not. And from the governments point of view...you are Arcee's best chance at survival. It's all very diplomatic on their end, but I assured them you would go for it."

"Will the Autobots?" Jack asked, his eyes coming back to life a little but he still seemed a bit guarded. Maybe even scared. Even now he wasn't letting himself hope as much as he wanted to. Fowler studied him close. Anyone else might have just gotten drunk or had a nervous breakdown after all that had gone down. Jack didn't know it, but he was made of some pretty stern stuff.

"Once they read the file and we _both_ talk with them today? You bet they will." Fowler replied, hoping to see some spark back in the boy. Jack looked down at the folder.

"I really did a number with Optimus trusting me. How's this going to go over with him?"

"This is as much for his benefit as yours. Mend some fences, okay?"

Jack stood up so fast, Fowler was a little startled.

"What are we waiting for?" he said. "Let's go."

The older man smiled and got to his feet with slow measured movements.

"The helicopter's waiting."

"I don't know how to thank you about all this. William." Jack looked a little unsteady and even shy, the abrupt change in his fate and being allowed to walk out of here with his head was an expression not to often seen in this place. Fowler just grinned.

"Don't let all this go to your head. This morning is all off the record, _understand_? You'll get used to it." And with that he held his hand out to Jack over the table. The two men shook firmly.

"I owe you a lot." Jack said quietly.

"Yes, you do" Fowler replied amiably. "But one last thing, Jack...about all your wild card antics and late night break ins. While they may have come clean in the wash...I'm also authorized to tell you this very official announcement directly from my superiors. Who might be_ your_ superiors in about ten years."

"What's that?" Jack said.

Fowler hadn't let go of Jack's hand and he waited until the younger man looked him dead in the eye. His tone was absolutely no-nonsense.

"Don't ever fuckin' do it again." he said.


	51. Part IV

And so Part III wraps up and we continue on to Part IV. Jack Darby has a new lease on life and he gets to return home with a bombshell for all concerned. A new character has been introduced, with new motives, and it may have drastic impacts on Jack's future now that the game has changed.

It wasn't easy writing the end of Part III, let me tell you. And I had to do it all in one go because the CIA's point of view had to be made rationally, all the while bringing in a new character, and I felt that didn't allow for any gaps in the posting of chapters.

Some people do that like they hold their readers hostage for reviews on each one, but this was a one shot deal and all I can hope for is that it made sense and didn't come across as convoluted. It's a long read and thanks for sticking it out :)

Sadly, at the end of the TV series they had only seconds to hint at Jack's future and maybe that's why I took sixteen pages to do it here in Arcee Ascendant lol. He deserved better and the story goes on.

If you feel like leaving more than one review though, I really do appreciate your thoughts and insight and I read them all.

That being said, on to Part IV as we finally answer the question : What about Arcee?

Stay tuned! Thanks for reading. - Prander.


	52. Kaleidoscope

**Kaleidoscope **

"I like the boy. My mother had a great uncle who married an Esquivel. Wouldn't that be something." Blackrock smiled quietly as he measured out the powder. His assistant stayed quiet, knowing the question wasn't meant to be answered. He and Doctor Lindberry were sitting in the two chairs that fronted a massive antique desk, located in one of Mister Blackrock's more casual offices, such places where he chose to handle lighter matters. As ever, Blackrock's equanimity was absolute, even though he was currently preparing their tea himself at a small prep-station off to the side. It was one of his more subtle charms that he would do so, considering his wealth. And yet the office was walled in lacquered chestnut and had a black marble floor. And the tea set he was using was sterling silver from eighteen sixty five.

As one of the world's most wealthy men came over and served them a cup and saucer himself, Doctor Lindberry offered his thoughts.

"The _un_remarkable nature of their collective backgrounds is remarkable in of itself...given the circumstances. We're no closer to understanding why the Autobots chose them."

Blackrock smiled again and leaned against the edge of his desk after handing over the cups.

"Perhaps we're over complicating it. Optimus Prime had his reasons. That doesn't mean they always have to be so estimable." he waited politely as his assistant took a sip of his tea before putting the setting down.

"Now then, where are we on the financial aspects?" he asked. His assistant had gotten used to those disquieting pale blue eyes some time ago but not to the point he was as familiar as Doctor Lindberry.

"Nothing remarkable there either, sir." The younger man spoke, checking his files on his data tablet. "The family's mortgage is within their means after they refinanced for a lower rate. But while it looks good on paper, they really just end up making three more payments in the long run."

"Is this the bank in Jasper, Nevada?"

"No sir. A private finance corporation located in Dallas."

"I am surprised that one got past the young master Esquivel." Doctor Lindberry added as he blew on his tea.

Blackrock turned to him and smiled again. "Well it's only natural to assume his parents are not concerning their young genius with every little thing. So we'll make sure they don't have to." He turned back to his assistant.

"Make sure we own that company by tomorrow morning. And please, have that loan rewritten to something more...agreeable."

"Yes sir."

"We'll take no chances that anything will distract the core team. Now, what about Miss Darby?"

As his assistant started in on June Darby's financial history, Blackrock permitted himself a moment to appreciate just how attractive the woman actually was. He had met her briefly just the other day. Very pretty. Then he chided himself and brought his mind back to the present.

**ooo**

June berated herself for looking like this, but again, part of her was secretly enjoying it. She had great legs, not a mark on them, and they were wonderfully shapely given her regime of jogging. Still, it was to late in the year to be going around like this and she wondered if Jack would think she was being a little obvious.

Maybe she was. Maybe she wanted to be. Looking like this, she really couldn't help it.

She had been struggling with a distinct rise in those old taboo desires lately and she was smart enough to know it was because Jack had actually done away with Airachnid. He really had done it. He had_ killed_ her. He had tracked her down, _faced_ her down...and then blew her up!

It was still amazing to think about it. And somehow it appealed to her more darker side that he had done so rather out of character. He had been a little driven. Determined. Cunning. And as a single woman who had indulged her naughtier side before with her only son, it excited her to think it had all been done with her in mind. He had been desperate to hide his mother darker secrets and now that he was the only one privy to them again...it turned her on.

She might as well admit it. It did. Didn't they share that awkward kiss up on top of the base when she had agreed to stay quiet and let him hunt down Airachnid? That had been strange. It had embarrassed them both that she had kissed him like that, mashing her lips against his. But now when she remembered it, it excited her.

Coupled with her reconnection with Prime, the thirty six year old June couldn't help but feel desired now. And naughty. Optimus wanted to be with her again, even though they hadn't found an opportunity yet, and her young warrior of a dashing son had annihilated a hated enemy in her name.

She knew the psychology was dangerous, but for the moment she didn't care. All the lonely hours of worry and heartache and guilt were over. Swept away. Her dignity was safe and so was her son. Her enemy was dead and she had a new lease on life with Optimus Prime. Everything had wrapped up nicely and she was indulging herself a little, her sex drive coming back tenfold.

Maybe it wasn't wise to distract him. But just a little couldn't hurt. Could it? Help take his mind off things? Not that she would ever act like this outside the house.

"How does that feel?" She asked as she stepped back. He flexed his arm again, marveling at how much better his broken arm felt now that Michael Blackrock's specialists had gotten at him.

They had presented him with a revolutionary design for a cast just that morning at Autobot base. A remarkable technological achievement in the form of a tough but smooth, banded nylon fabric sleeve. At first he just couldn't believe that it could do what they promised, but they were right. It was better than his fiber-glass cast by far.

It was inter-woven with powered reinforcement bands that hugged his arm in a vice like grip, supporting it better than any traditional cast ever could. But what was amazing about it was that he could bend his arm now. It wasn't constricting at all, with a multitude of tiny pressure pads within the cast adjusting to the kinetics and keeping his arm completely secure without cutting off any circulation. It felt a little strange though, lacking the ponderous weight and hard shell he was used to. But Blackrock knew what was coming and he wanted Jack at his best as quickly as possible.

Still, it felt funny when he moved, though he was kind of enjoying it. It was like moving his arm through water when you felt the pressure changes.

_Must be the human equivalent of the exo-frame_ he mused. He wouldn't be knocking down any Vehicons with this though, for it lacked the power. But he had to admit it felt better. His mother had adjusted the straps a bit after he had brought it home to show her and escort her back to the base for tonight's debriefing.

And he tried to ignore how she looked. She stood in front of him now in just a black tank top and spandex shorts, but what a combination. The shorts could have been panties for all their size and shape. They hugged her bottom and ended right at the top of her thighs, throwing her long legs into stark relief. And what was more, the waistband ended well below her belly button, where her tank top ended just that much more above it. All _that _did was show off her flat stomach and the taper of her waist and he was startled to realize that Arcee sported this very look in _her_ appearance.

Did his mother do this on purpose?

It was like someone had painted her clothes on and it _must_ have been on purpose because otherwise she should have known better. The tank top finished it all up by wrapping sensuously around her moderate breasts and the whole ensemble left not one single thing to the imagination about the shape of her body. She was pretty as ever, opting again to tie her long black hair back in a pony tail from her shapely face and she acted as if it wasn't strange at all to be standing there in front of him like this.

"Are your fingers cold at all?" June took up his hand and checked, doing so by running her thumb across his knuckles and holding his hand just that much to long. Then she let his hand drop and smiled at him innocently.

"I'm fine." he sighed, giving her just the right amount of tolerant smirk at the corner of his mouth.

"Do you want to get dressed?" He asked. "Blackrock's people are bridging in in less than an hour."

June nipples stiffened a little even as she stood there, pushing her ass back and her breasts forward in a bit of a 'check me out' pose. Jack had said _get dressed,_ not _get ready_. And her heart sped up a little as her pupils dilated.

_I love it when he notices me. But I better calm down. I better go put something on before I do something stupid. Again._

"Okay just gimme ten minutes." She said lightly and walked past him out of the kitchen on her bare feet, heading down the hallway to her bedroom.

Jack didn't watch her go, though it made him squirm to think that she probably meant him to. She was feeling horny. He knew the signs...even when she hit him over the head with them. He sighed and stared over at the door leading in to the garage, shaking his head ever so slightly.

His mother might be walking on air like a new woman, but his mind and his feelings were as busy as ever.

_For cryin' out loud._

He rubbed his face with one hand and leaned against the counter. It wasn't the first time he had thought it.

_ Is there something in the fucking water around here!?_

**ooo**

Bulkhead rumbled down the long hallway, his massive tread just that much heavier than Wheeljack's casual stroll.

"What do _you_ think about Jack wasting Airachnid?" He turned to ask his old friend as they walked the perimeter. Wheeljack shrugged, meaning to ask if Bulkhead's next batch of energon-brew had aged enough to drink. He was staying in tonight. On orders. Not that he would ever tell Prime he _felt_ like staying in. He had to keep up appearances of being a rogue, but the truth was he was curious about what they were going to do about Arcee.

"Couldn't have happened to a more deserving Con, if you ask me." he replied.

"That's not what I asked. The kids have never acted like this before."

"Do you mean kids or kid?" Wheeljack glanced at him.

"Miko's getting older." The massive ex-Wrecker said suddenly, his eyes far away as he walked "Eighteen cycles is a special number for humans. She's growing up."

Another shrug from Wheeljack.

"Ok. So what's the matter? What's buggin' you, Bulk?"

"I dunno."

Wheeljack stopped and turned to his friend. "Have you noticed we're suddenly talking about Miko and not Jack? And it sounds like you're trying to convince yourself of something."

Bulkhead stopped as well and thumped a huge fist down on his hip, rubbing his chin as he pondered.

"She's acting differently. And it's not this 'growing up' business." he said.

"How so?"

"She's been spending a lot more time with the two of us."

"So what? Isn't that what humans mean about growing up? Getting all serious and responsible?"

"It's not that. Miko's done her fair share of fighting over the years so you would think she would really be eager to get her battlesuit ready. But she's not working on it. She's just hanging out with us and kinda tinkering with it."

"Distracted, huh?"

"Haven't you noticed?"

"Maybe it's this birthday business. I don't know why Prime just doesn't give her the Apex armor. Now_ that_ would be an awesome present." Wheeljack was already walking again, ambling on.

Bulkhead sighed and followed, frustrated with himself that he couldn't put into words what he felt about Miko. Wheeljack meant well but he wasn't much help. He never questioned human motives. With them he just took everything in stride. Maybe it was because he had never partnered with one and this gave him a more practical outlook when considering their personalities.

But Bulkhead stayed troubled. Miko had always spent a lot of time with him. In fact, the older she got, the more she did so. But something was bothering him and he couldn't put a finger on it. She seemed troubled about something else and she wasn't talking. She was distant.

Maybe it had something to do with Jack.

**ooo**

"I feel like a new bot!" Rafael rocked on his stool from behind a large schematic, looking younger than his sixteen years. He felt an uncharacteristic urge to get up and jump up and down. Not for him the burden of self-loathing and heartache. He had been inconsolable for three days. Almost worryingly so. And it had been a nightmare for everyone. Only Bumblebee could get anything out of him. And Optimus. A little bit.

But it was like his unreasonable guilt was crushing him into the ground a hundred times faster than it would have anyone else in his shoes, for Rafael was selfless and innocent to a fault.

But before he could even get wind of what was going on, incredibly Jack Darby had showed up a few days ago with agent Fowler and turned his world upside down again. For the better. He had literally shaken Rafael by the shoulders to get him to snap out of it and listen. And his own excitement and energy had been infectious as Jack spent an hour bringing him up to speed about the VR4. He even showed Rafael his first 'top secret' folder. That had been _sooo_ cool.

Rafael didn't question how everything worked out. He had always assumed it would. His trouble came from feeling he had let someone down or worse, betrayed them. It had tortured him for days and in just an hour, Jack Darby had made it all right. He_ always_ made everything right.

Rafael adored him like an older brother and he was adamantly supportive that it would be Jack piloting the VR4 as they sim-dived into Arcee a second time. He was right where he wanted to be now. Where he belonged. Making sure everything was running smoothly and keeping everyone safe on the technical end of things. It's where he could do the most good.

And the stacks of books and instruction manuals he was surrounded by were proof that that's exactly where they wanted him. He was eager to meet Blackrock's specialists. He already had half a dozen different ideas to offer.

Bumblebee sat in Rafael's room, just shy of being to large to fit, but he happily sat cross legged like he was next to the work table here, glad for the change in his human friend. He beeped away almost as much as Rafael chattered, handing him another tiny book and listening intently as Rafael explained the contents.

Finally they were going to do something about his wounded sister Arcee. Unbeknownst to the humans, three times the Autobots had held a secret meeting about whether or not they could storm the Decepticon ship for the cortical technology. Like they had when Optimus had been infected by that Cybertronian plague. But it would be hard. Megatron had wised up since then and his security had been lethally beefed up, not to mention if they could even manage to find the warship ever again.

Bumblebee had left that to the others, never giving up hope, and determined to be right there by Optimus if they ever stormed the Cons. It wasn't going to have to come to that now. Hopefully. Though he did have to admit he was little disappointed for not getting a shot at it.

But there'd be other days to fight. There always were.

**ooo**

Only in front of Ratchet would Optimus have shown such feeling and the old medic stood by respectfully as Prime carefully toweled off Arcee's still features before switching to her arms. He was surprisingly gentle in his ministrations and for a moment you could glimpse the traces of a truly kind hearted and caring Autobot deep down inside this, the last of the Primes. Well, let him have this moment with one of his people. He would have enough on his hands in the coming hours what with all these new humans on the way.

Prime took up the bottle and up ended it, soaking the soft towel with a little more T3 energon paste. It had a long name, but served as a revitalizing lotion for his kind, used just as much cosmetically as it was the cure for minor scratches and wounds. But he wanted Arcee to look as healthy as possible in these final hours and he gently worked it over her still face and hands.

She didn't stir.

Ratchet looked on quietly, checking areas on Arcee's body himself and comparing them to his data pad. Both their movements were quiet and meditative. As if they both knew Arcee's fate would finally be answered in the coming days. Together they had put their trust in agent Fowler and Michael Blackrock. And Jack Darby.

The data pad blinked softly as it checked the integrity of Arcee's left knee joint. Ratchet nodded, satisfied at the readings, and turned to Optimus.

"Have you come to terms with what Jack has done, then?" Ratchet asked quietly. Prime looked over at him from studying Arcee's face, standing on the other side of the table now, next to her other leg.

"Yes." Was all he answered. He was thinking of everything that had brought them to this and even though June had done much to dispel his guilt, he would always feel responsible for _any_ life. But what really haunted Prime now was Arcee. Past all the talk, the confessions, the diplomacy and the surprises of the past week, what bothered him most were the results of Rafael's ill-advised attempt to revive her.

It tortured him more than he let on that the young man had found inside Arcee's mind traces and traps and Primus knows what else of Airachnid's legacy. Her poison.

It had been this more than anything that helped Optimus get past what his friend Jack Darby had done. Airachcnid was gone, but the price of her evil was still being paid.

Now it was time to end Arcee's suffering.

But as a leader, what Optimus Prime _didn't_ share with everyone else, or wouldn't allow himself to share in, was the unquestionable belief that Arcee was actually in there. Held captive somehow and waiting to be freed. He and Ratchet alone knew that in the coming hours it would be they that suggested she might _truly_ be dead. But that didn't mean they weren't going to try and find out. And that meant they had to let Blackrock's people in. And Jack Darby in even further.

Again, mighty Optimus mourned the loss of Jack's innocence, but he felt stronger for how he had been made to see that Jack was now a man. A man who deserved to fight back in what way he could in how the Decepticon's had altered his life. Fight for his mother, team Prime, and his partner. And unknown to Optimus, himself as well.

But as it was, Prime couldn't change the past, nor would feeling sad it about it help. Jack was alive and well and there was finally a chance for Arcee. That much he could admit. A last chance, but a chance none the less.

"We must trust Jack." he said.

"You sound as if you're telling yourself we should."

Prime looked away from Arcee's completely still face again and over at Ratchet. She hadn't moved an inch in months and each day haunted him as her leader and as her friend.

"No, old friend. He deserves it." he replied. "And with Fowler's help, perhaps this way we can still protect and guide him through any future mistakes."

"What _was_ it agent Fowler said? It's hard watching them grow up?" Ratchet mused.

Prime didn't smile.

"Yes. But he earned this chance." And he turned back to look at Arcee. It was the only omission that Prime would give of his acceptance that Jack Darby had indeed annihilated their enemy for them.

Airachnid was gone. Her evil remained. It was time to put a stop to it all.

And Jack was going to be the one to do it.

**ooo**

Miko Nakadai sat on Jack's bed hugging her knees, up close to the large, static-screened camouflaged window that overlooked the desert a few hundred feet below. Tonight was going to be something else. This billionaire guy was coming with his people. Some big meeting-debriefing thing. And Jack and Raf were going to be let loose on a new VR machine. But she wasn't thinking about that. She wasn't thinking about her birthday or Bulkhead or anything else for that matter.

She had meant to surprise Jack with a sexy little number she picked out this afternoon. She had bought these dark patterned stockings and a black ruffled skirt along with a white silk blouse that you could tie open over your stomach. It was meant to have the sleeves rolled up billowy and playful with a sharp collar and when she pinned her hair up and slipped on her heels she looked like a porn star off some student-teacher thing.

It was the outfit she meant to wear for her birthday but it came out a little _too_ sexy so she decided to wear it just for Jack. A present on the big day. The big day for him. But now he was late. These people were bridging in in less than an hour and he was still at home.

What for? But it didn't matter. There would be no time now and her failed attempt to surprise him just made her feel worse. And that much more forgotten. Looked over.

_Passed _over.

She warred with feelings she never thought would be a problem, hugging her legs and leaning her cheek against a knee.

_On top of all that, they had cut his damn cast off!_

One of the few things that she felt still really staked her claim to him. Silly to think so, but she wasn't eighteen yet. Things like that were still important and this _rich_ guy's doctors up and talk him out of it. _Dammit!_

Disgusted, she suddenly turned and smacked her high heels off the bed where she had sat them, needing to make some noise in that moment. She kicked the one she missed away with her foot and it sailed off into the low light of the room with a clatter.

Then she turned back, hugged her legs again, and watched the afternoon tick away.

**ooo**

Random chance plays a part in all war. And if you held still long enough, you would realize team Prime had been blessed with more than their fair share that had turned out fortuitously for them. But chance is fickle. Random. And sometimes it seems to have it's sights set directly on you.

Tom Jennings had high cholesterol and ate way to much bacon. He drove truck for a living and hardly got enough exercise and in three years his first heart attack would retire him prematurely. Three years after that, his third one would kill him before the age of sixty.

But just at that moment, he was walking towards a greasy spoon of a cafe with his two buddies and they were going on about the recent happenings in their small town USA. Tomorrow, Tom would haul a load of feed up to Montana, so he was thinking about keeping it under four beers, when his friend Larry Ormen piped up about an explosion that happened last week out in the lumber acres of old East main. He was skinny and ate like he had a hollow leg.

"I guess old Johnny is facing one helluva fine. It'll probably put him out of business, even though he insists he didn't leave any fuel tanks there."

"Well something sure touched off one helluva bang. There were at least fifty cars watching the fire from highway sixty two." The third man, Greg Sarkiss, had bad teeth and didn't shower regularly enough. They women at the local VFW called him 'Sourkiss' behind his back. But they had all known each other since they were eleven and frequented this cafe regularly.

"I've been thinking about that." Tom sniffed. "I once hauled gasoline out of Kansas for a summer. Nine trips. Twenty thousand gallons each. From what I hear, not even one of those babies could have touched off such a blaze."

"That's right!" Larry eye's lit up. "Listen to Tom here. He knows. It either has something to do with those strange woods out there, or Johnny was storing more gas than he should have."

"More than twenty thousand gallons? Come on. And it would have been diesel anyway."

"Saaay, you're right! Maybe it was something even _more_ explosive! Like that blue stuff that government report was supposed to be about!"

"Why do you encourage him?" Greg frowned at Tom as they left the parking lot and passed several cars, heading up onto the sidewalk. "If I wanted to hear a bunch of stupid talk, I would have stayed home with the missus. There's nothing mysterious about it. John's an idiot."

As the three men debated how the fourth man had gotten himself into such trouble, they never would have guessed that it _did_ sound mysterious. To the right kind of individual that happened to be listening.

"Hmmm." Knock-Out mused to himself as he sat quietly among some parked cars. Unexplained explosions, eh? Blue stuff?

Ten minutes and twenty miles later, he struck the first of the dirt roads heading back into the wooded acres of lower east Oregon.

Here he stopped. For two reasons. One, he hated dirt roads and two, it wouldn't do to give himself away prematurely.

He walked the rest of the way in, through the trees, facetiously avoiding pine trees and their needles lest he mar his paint job and so it took him longer to get there but eventually he looked down at what remained of lumber camp fourteen.

He also happened to know that this is where Airachnid called home. How he knew she was there was just another random chance of fate. He had stumbled upon her, half a step ahead of Soundwave, after checking the routine scans of Earth for Autobot signals. Blanking the data from the hard-files, he was the only Decepticon who knew it, once he had cautiously checked it out for himself.

She must have been slipping. It was indeed her lair and he had bid a hasty retreat. After that, as was his custom, he kept the knowledge to himself until such time he could benefit from it.

Or use it to redirect Megatron's ire or something in an emergency.

He wasn't so sentimental that he kept her location secret out of some desire to avenge his old partner Breakdown. And he wasn't so cocky as to think he could handle her himself. So he kept her in the back of his mind as just one of many secrets.

Now, scanning CB waves for any signs of street racing humans, who populated smaller towns with over-powered machines, straight country roads, and not enough common sense, Knock-Out had been in the right place at the right time to hear three older humans talking about a strange explosion that lit up his intuition circuits and made him curious.

And sure enough, here was the proof.

"Now what happened _here_?" He mused, stepping down past the stripped, charcoaled trunks of trees and closing in on the deep depression that had melted into the ground. All that remained of the one large warehouse that served as her lair.

"_O-o-oooh_. Ground Zero. I wonder if anybody was home." He squatted down and picked through the debris a bit, but there wasn't much. Still, he was a native of Cybertron and standing up, he inhaled deeply.

Several times. His air passage system for his engine was actually a delicate particle sub system filter to test chemical contents and trace elements in gaseous anomalies.

"Well, well, well. I smell the the burnt blood of energon. And plasma fire." He turned, his deep musical voice sounding bemused and intrigued. He turned in a circle.

"Why, someone blew it all over the place. It's everywhere." He put his hands on his hips, thinking. He looked at the woods.

"I wonder what else we can find."

The crews from the CIA had been through this area with a fine tooth comb. But they were human and fallible, when compared to a Cybertronian. Knock-Out found nothing in the immediate vicinity, but his scanners did detect the compounds he was looking for far off in the trees. And five minutes later he pried a chunk of shrapnel out from the trunk of a tough pine tree a full eighty yards away from the site of the explosion.

In his time, he had attended to the chassis's of tens of thousands of his own kind. To a human, this scrap would look like just another piece of burnt metal, twisted and charred.

To Knock-Out, it looked like a piece of armor once worn over Airachnid's chest. A corner perhaps. Down by her ribs. And what was more, some of her paint scheme was still intact.

"My, my, my. Isn't _this_ juicy?" He smirked to the stars overhead and the blowing trees around him.

"Either you're sneaking around minus your midsection, my dear. Or someone has done for you in a big way." He looked back over at the crater and the devastated lumber camp.

"Now that's verrrry interesting." he mimicked her. He looked back at the piece of armor in his hand.

And then he smiled.


	53. Beginnings

**Beginnings**

"How do you feel?" Miko crinkled her nose. Jack was reclined about ten degrees on a large white bed of composite plastic that looked like an air hockey table. It was smooth and low, extra wide, and pivoted on a gyro stabilizer to let him be more or less stood up between test runs. He was standing like that now, leaning back a bit, with Miko at his side. But what made it look strange was that he was wrapped in a thin suit of dark, breathable fabric that was neither warm nor cold and of a material he couldn't identify. And it was dotted with little white computer leads in a hundred key places around his body.

The VR4 Sim-dive suit. It ran off the technology of computer generated inserts that film makers used, but this stuff was the real deal with a much more serious purpose. The technician overlooking things finished standing Jack up and locked the table in place. Without a word, and about a dozen other things to do, the guy moved off quickly, snatching up a clipboard and heading for another group of lab-coats. Jack made a face once they were alone.

"Like I'm getting ready for a bondage photo shoot." He said as he looked over at her and Miko laughed.

"Maybe I'll put this on later. How do you think it would look on me?" She winked playfully, thumping his arm with the back of her hand. He was in a pair of black military issue boxers and nothing else, with the suit covering him from head to toe. It was slightly see through and felt like silk against the skin, which was helpful when they slipped the hood over his face. For now though, it wasn't necessary to wear the head piece and he was glad for that.

"I thought it was your birthday, not mine." He smiled, the fabric around his body hissing a bit as he scratched his lip. Miko hid a smile, looking away from him and over at the bustle of activity going on throughout Central Command. She was sticking close to him today and staying apart from everyone else because today she was just a bystander. One determined to not miss a thing.

"I wish I had something to do." She looked back at Jack with a small frown. She was radiant and fresh as ever, her eyes bright and clear and she had chosen a subdued little outfit for today's event. A simple black vest over a body hugging gray t-shirt, with a short skirt and leggings topped off with a pair of knee high leather boots. If she called that down playing her outfit, he wondered what she considered sexy, because she couldn't help but look good. And he had seen her look good in various stages of undress several times in the last three months they had been...close.

She had also decided to tie her hair back with a scarf the same color as her shirt, completing the look and wearing it like a bandanna. But she was so demure and sexy that all it did was enhance her pretty face and exotic eyes, what with the way a few loose strands of hair hung down at her temples. The rest was a black curtain going down her back far enough to touch her ass. More than one of men around the place did a double take when she had showed up that morning. She looked like a sexy little pirate.

But what really set her apart was that Miko had taken to doing a strange thing. A new attitude, if it could be called anything at all. In this last month of training and consultations with both specialists and Autobot alike, Miko had decidedly stayed a little cool. Where Jack tried to turn his life back around and plant his feet firmly back on the path towards helping Arcee, Miko had surprisingly held back.

Not from him, but from all the preparations that went into the launch date for Jack's first piloting of the VR4-DCDU. The Virtual Reality Deep Cortical Sim-Dive Unit that had been gifted to them like a government pardon for their use in trying to revive the comatose Arcee. Quite a mouthful. It only sounded right when Rafael said it.

And all the long days, training, crash prep-courses and late night hours of study had left little time for her and Jack. Including the days he was ordered to sleep and eat. And that had happened more than once as he pushed himself hard to be ready. But it wasn't just that that made her frosty. She was pointedly cool towards anyone from the CIA and she wouldn't say why. It didn't matter who it was these days. And she had little to next to none use for one Michael Blackrock. She outright disliked him. It had been almost immediate. And even though he was a psychologist, Blackrock himself had elected not comment on it. Instead, he strangely had no qualms about making it clearhe didn't have much use for Miko.

_He_ didn't like _her _and when he had politely but diplomatically made sure she was cut out of the loop in this last month, things had only gotten worse.

They could argue about virtually anything in an instant and Miko seemed to delight in _making_ him argue. His money didn't impress her. His manner infuriated her. And she never hesitated to say _I don't like your face! _All the while Blackrock would calmly and levelly reply to her, fighting more with a choice of words than sheer volume. He never lost his cool and a hothead like Miko only seemed to strengthen that exterior.

But when she realized all the fighting was only making life miserable for Jack, and it wasn't like he didn't have enough to worry about already, she backed off drastically and just took to avoiding the man altogether. But nothing changed her apparent coolness towards what she viewed as outsiders and controlling her temper made her even more distant than before.

Jack had tried to talk with her about it but she blew it all off and he knew enough, seen enough, been through enough to know, that it must have meant she was hiding a deeper problem. And when he insisted, she would dance around his questions like a champ. Not to mention how shekept distractinghim at night back in his apartment.

What could he do? Who could he go to? Who would she listen to? Her independence was bursting out of her like a lava vent now that she was eighteen. Her host parents were the irrelevant shadows they had always been and his own mother June would have been a mistake. Miko had always her way. Bold, relentless and fearless but now he sensed an edge to her.

In the end, though it took awhile for the anvil to fall on his head, he realized it had something to do with Arcee. Miko always had sensed that there was more to Arcee and Jack's partnership than was generally known, but she had never pressed him about it. And it seemed a little obvious now that she had simply not allowed herself to think about it, leaving those problems for another day. Like the one where Arcee might actually be revived.

Now that day was here. Possibly. And she was staying completely mute about how that had her feeling.

Guilt and loathing were old bed fellows with Jack Darby and he felt bad that he had never really made things _official_ with Miko. And now all his energy was going into bringing Arcee back from the brink. If they could.

After three months together Miko realized it too. They weren't really together at all, despite all her hopes to the opposite. Oh yes, physically they did things. Incredible, dizzying, intense, orgasmic, _wonderful _things, that at twenty years old Jack appetite never slackened for. But they had never actually _done it_. How was that possible? Together they had come so close it was as if the world had held it's breath waiting for it to happen, but somehow in some way, they both would just mutually stop. She would turn to him then with her body or her hands or her mouth or he would do the same for her...but they never made love.

Ironically, she had started to act a little reckless and aggressive, much as Arcee had when Airachnid had taken over her body. That had been the terrible reason for Arcee's frank behavior in the past, but Miko went about it differently. Privately. She seemed to vent her frustrations by acting as slutty and aggressive as she could when they were alone. So the frequency of their sexual play actually _increased_, for she enjoyed it just as much as he did. But then in direct contrast, she was downright formal around other people when they weren't alone. Formal and a little challenging. Staying just at Jack's elbow as if she dared anyone else to tell her differently. Like she was guarding part of him and clinging to it. It came to feel a bit desperate...and even a little sad.

Gradually, she came to have a lost look in her eyes be it working on her battlesuit with Bulkhead or walking around in just her panties back in Jack's apartment. And when he would try and be _close _with her, she would brush him off. It was as if a barrier was still between them that _she_ couldn't pierce but had to keep desperately hoping _he _would somehow. All the while knowing he never would.

Knowing the barrier was there was awful for her. All the more so now that Jack's passion had shifted back to Arcee, coming fresh off his triumph over Airachnid.

She never took it out on him though and he never felt an instant of her anger but he was smart enough to feel a growing unease down in his guts. Everyone was wired differently. What would happen when Miko lashed out? When she no longer could contain what she must be feeling or direct it somewhere else? How would she do it? Who would get the brunt? But then this week alone she had buried all signs of her disquiet, showing nothing but enthusiasm, hope and horniness with her trademark energy.

She didn't fool him. Or herself. It was forced.

He stared at her now knowing he should say something and hating himself for not being able to say it. He was to distracted and his head was full of so many other things, that Miko gnawed at the corners of his mind like a headache. He was in a spot right enough, of the kind that could make girls howl for his blood over his indecision and flagrant desire for Miko's physical attention. He knew her _own_ attraction to him didn't cancel it out and he was no better than some other horny bastard. That kind of arrangement was _not _a good thing. Because she wanted something he couldn't give, lost in how she couldn't make him come around any other way.

But Jack hardened his heart a little.

How many ways must he pulled like taffy? His mother was the first, with her own lonely, unrequited desires and blatant sex appeal. Arcee was an alien intergalactic supermodel that being with felt as addictive as breathing air, and even Airachnid had pestered him. That had just been jealously over Arcee but still, what was it? Hell, even agent Cindy had coaxed it out of him that one time for a grunting, sweaty session in a broom closet.

And he never asked Miko to come on to him. In fact, he had warned her not too, trying to tell her that what she wanted wasn't there. But she persisted and _now_ look at the two of them.

Many a morning Jack Darby looked in the bathroom mirror and pondered why he was in such a spot. He always felt he was rather plain and a bit of a pushover. Did the last four years of war change that? He sure wasn't wishy-washy anymore and even field agents twice his age took him seriously now. So how did that affect the women in his life? They wanted him before he had toughened up, right? It's not like he was endowed like a horse or anything and he just couldn't reason it out. Feeling uncertain made him feel insecure and _that _made him feel angry. He had had enough of being insecure.

He would then push it all back from his mind and force himself to think which one he wanted to be with, guilt or no guilt. Which one made him feel right. Nudging out his mother with the taboo appeal and long legs, agent Cindy would follow with her compact body and rough lust. Miko would slowly sift out of his mind for her being closest to his age, not to mention her exotic good looks and energy...and that would leave Arcee.

He looked over at her now just as Bulkhead rumbled by on the opposite side of the table where she lay. She was reclined farther back than he was and laying still as stone and just at that moment he was able to make a fair comparison of her to her Autobot brethren. The males like Bulkhead were all bulky mechanical muscle and armor. Her brothers. The towered over her as she towered over Jack. He had even seen her grapple with _Megatron_ once, of all people, and _he _could close his whole fist around Arcee like she was a delicate flower to vivisect with his talons.

Seeing her among the males did nothing but enhance her own unique sex appeal and this drew Jack to her. She seemed delicate and fragile, sleek and streamlined, alluring and alien, tough and sassy, and there were none like her among her own kind. The only one that could have even come close was blown to smithereens. Jack had personally seen to it. And anyway, Airachnid's brand of passion just made his flesh crawl.

Arcee was just Arcee, making up for her lack of power with an indomitable spirit and lightning fast fighting style. She was self assured and strong willed, showing a tough exterior and then proving it. But he also knew she could be vulnerable and sorrowful deep down. Or filled with laughter and desire and love. As much as she could be deadly, she could be playful and free. And she had shared this only with Jack himself. So how could anyone among _his_ friends and family understand? Or another human for that matter?

He just wanted her. He always had. He couldn't say why.

Arcee made his up his mind everytime. And he was sorry for how long she had been neglected in his quest to kill Airachnid. No to mention his late nights with Miko. He would make up for it now. He would...

His head snapped back around and he saw Miko staring at him with a terribly sad look in her eyes. He had forgotten she stood there. Here she was trying to stick close to him and he ended up daydreaming about Arcee again.

Before he could say anything, Miko turned on her heel without a word and headed over to the rows of folding chairs that had been set out for various people to sit down on and watch. There weren't a great number of seats, but she looked forgotten and alone as she plunked down and looked away from him. Unable to bear sitting still for more than two seconds, she was up and moving around the room instead, meaning to hook up with Bulkhead.

Jack sighed and let his head thump back against the padded leather head rest, staring up at the far off ceiling of the old missile silo.

_Gawdammit. _

Then he spotted his mother coming over and he cringed a little.

_ Great. Here comes more trouble. _

But June was behaving herself. She only tempted fate within the privacy of the Darby household and you would never know the dirty Darby secret even existed. For a time it had. It's knowledge had been known. And had come to an end when Jack's parting shot had blown Airachnid to bits.

But there was no denying June Darby feel like a new woman since then and she had unfairly cranked up her old games at home. Sometimes he wished she would just make up her mind.

_Are you ever going to just get it over with? Or are you going to be an awkwardly horny thorn in my side for the rest of my life? _

What she needed was time alone with Optimus, creepy as that felt for a son to think. But he could hardly complain. He was after all, devoted to Arcee in the same way.

But any time she had with Optimus would have to wait because Prime was right at the center of things with how he and Ratchet had opened up a line of communication with Blackrock Industries, courtesy of the CIA. And Jack wondered if his mother knew that he himself was the catalyst for all that. Through him, both Autobot and human interests would have a fair chance and he decided to ask Fowler later just what kind of clearance his mother was permitted.

So it was with little surprise that June too, felt a measure of coolness to Michael Blackrock. Not as severe as Miko though, she just wasn't all that impressed having to turn over Jack _and _Prime's attention to him for the last month. His money made little difference to her as well.

Maybe the man, with his disquieting eyes, had the _opposite_ effect on women that Jack Darby apparently had, money or not.

_ And since I can never reason out why women want my stupid self, maybe I could compare notes with Blackrock in how women don't ever seem to like him. Imagine that._

But that would be presumptuous and he didn't need to open that particular can of worms. It really was just a flight of fancy to pass the time as he had to stay laying on the table between tests. It was to much trouble getting him suited up to have him hop down and run around, so several tests were prepared ahead of time for best efficiency.

That was why his mother was coming over with a sport bottle of Gatorade and a towel, personally seeing to his comfort as the activities proceeded. There was a whole medical staff on hand but at least Blackrock had humored June in how he had made her part of it. Miko hadn't been so lucky.

"How we doing?" June smiled, raising the bottle and making Jack take a long pull from the straw before she allowed him to answer.

"Back of my head itches." He complained mildly, licking his lips. She rolled up the towel she carried and tucked it behind his neck, stretching on her toes to reach. The relief was immediate. It held his head off the leather pad for now and he was surprised at how good that felt.

"Do some leg bends." She nodded and he pulled up one leg and then the other as she turned to look out over the bustle of activity in Central Command herself. Today she had kept it to just a pair of denim jeans and a dark hoodie over her white t-shirt. Her usual outfit come fall. But whether she knew it or not, June Darby was a _killer_ when she wore jeans. She was taller and more shapely than Miko and jeans only flattered her look. Especially her butt. And because of that, Miko wasn't the only head-turner here today. She seemed to be a bit more aware of it than Miko though, and this made her feel awkward around so many new people here at the base. Jack could appreciate that. His mother was good looking but even better at selling the 'good girl', as she put it, and he surely didn't need any more grief. He was glad she never carried on outside the house.

She turned back, at a loss for what to say, and instead smiled at him a little deviously. She leaned forward.

"How do you think I would look wearing this thing? Hmm?" She grinned and pinched the fabric over his arm. And then she frowned, perplexed.

"What? Why are you giving me that look?" she said.


	54. Diving

**Diving**

Michael Blackrock waited until June Darby left her son. He appreciated her efforts and her concerns were easy to contain as long as she was allowed to serve in an official medical capacity.

Again, he was a little taken with how attractive she was. And judging from the looks she was getting, several men on his staff felt the same way. Odd how team Prime retained the services of two uncommonly attractive women of various age. He wondered if anyone had ever studied that and he made a vague mental note to think on it sometime.

As he came walking over, he happened to pass Arcee where she lay on her own bed and this served to remind him that there was an entire write up on file devoted to _her_ sex appeal back in his office. He smiled softly.

What strange times these were.

Then his thoughts drifted back to June. Not that his own stereotypical response to her was any surprise, but that was as far as it went and as far as it would ever go. He wondered what the conclusions would be if anyone ever studied _him_, the quiet billionaire, who never indulged in an earthly pleasures where they could be publically seen, captured or posted online.

Was that prudence, wisdom or good business?

Prudence, more than likely. After all, he wasn't close to anything resembling a playboy but neither was he eunuch. And so, while prudence was noted to be the father of all virtues, it should have been labeled the troublesome cousin. Because Michael Blackrock was just a disciplined and cultured man who never let one world conflict with another. Granted, sometimes that wasn't always easy. For as a result of that discipline, once a woman he admired was firmly rooted in one world, she was not allowed to cross over into another. There would be no European tours or Alaskan cruises with June Darby.

Pity.

The cold air of the northern climes would suit her complexion, at the same time it would inspire warmer activities in the bedroom. Secretly, she must be _full_ of surprises.

He smiled politely as he came up to Jack, knowing full well his mother knew he was only a few steps behind her. She continued to walk on, pretending she hadn't seen him.

Then again, it would be easy to keep June Darby at arms length. She disliked him almost as much as the girl, though she was less hostile. And he didn't need to ponder the reasons for that one. The two women both resented what Blackrock Industries held for their man and he supposed, from the mothers point of view, it was because this thing Jack Darby was attempting wasn't exactly safe. Safe in how they weren't completely sure what was going to happen.

But if the results of the young Esquivel's attempt were anything to go by, in this instance they expected the worst. And so they had prepared accordingly.

An entire month had been devoted to making ready and while Jack was itching to get on with it, Blackrock spared him the knowledge that in the world of prototypes and theoretical research, things were measured in years. But then again, there was war.

As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention, yes? What with their world a playground for the mighty, they had to keep up, or be eliminated. And that was probably the only redeeming quality _about _war. Time was no longer a luxury.

But time was doubly trumped in this instance by the Autobots. Necessity or not, Blackrock's specialists had been staggering under the incredible amount of projected outcomes that never seemed to solve a problem, but only served to create a new one. And with it came more tests and trials. In the year they had been developing the VR4, the most troublesome outcome was when they needed to invent a whole new technology to help them understand one of their own inventions. Dizzying. That was the worst kind of environment for advancement and breakthroughs. And all of it based off an intelligence arc that was all theory. Guesswork.

Enter Ratchet, Bumblebee and Prime.

Blackrock would have paid a king's ransom to have gotten a glimpse into Cybertronian science as he had in these past four weeks. As it was, it ended up not costing him anything.

Ratchet, and quit surprisingly Optimus, had combined their substantial experience and scientific knowledge with Blackrock's resources and the result was stupendous. Progress was made by leaps and bounds as things were solved, streamlined, advanced and modified and it was truly amazing to a man like Blackrock to see that happen. But, and perhaps only agent Fowler would understand this, the technology was still firmly rooted in the _human_ world. The VR series stayed true to it's principles that it would be piloted by humans, made just for humans and would be useless _without_ humans.

It was subtle, but necessary, and he wondered if Prime could see that. In fact, he fully expected a request for a Cybertronian cortical unit if all went well with Arcee. It would be interesting to see the outcome then, in more ways than one. Would Prime be to polite then to _make _such a request? It didn't matter. Ratchet would not. And Blackrock was glad he had some time to think about how he would answer. One thing at a time, after all, and today was for the Autobot Arcee.

And Jack was right in the middle of things, just as intended.

Still, he wondered how the mother had consoled herself to that fact it was her son strapped into this new unit. Perhaps in the end she had little say in the matter. Jack Darby was, after all, twenty years old. And older yet, in a weathered sort of sense. He felt of an age with Blackrock himself and Blackrock was closer in age with the mother than he was the son.

In another setting, they could have been friends. But that was even more impossible than courting the mother. Michael Blackrock was a dispassionate man among his staff. And among his projects. People thought it was because he was rich and unaffected. He knew it was because it saved lives. But his smile was genuine enough and he was quite amiable.

"We're getting close now. Less than half an hour." He came up next to Jack's table and stopped, breaking the news passed onto him by his staff. Sometimes Jack was the last to know, since he was consigned to being left on the table between tests, but today had been ear-marked as the first official dive and they were ahead of schedule.

"Nervous?" He asked, as Jack lay there suited up in his awkward looking outfit.

Jack looked down at the man who could buy a hundred Jasper, Nevada's. He had to admit he _did_ feel excited. But nervous? Afraid?

"A little." He smirked. Blackrock tilted his head ever so slightly.

"You're not as good a liar as you think you are, Jack. You're more excited than nervous."

"Can't keep that from the psychologist, huh?"

"No." Blackrock said simply, without ego. "Your excitement is understandable but a portion of it stems from the unit. It can feel like a ride at the fair sometimes."

Jack knew that but then a question came to him.

"Have you tried it?" He raised his head, genuinely curious.

Blackrock allowed himself a smirk and crossed his hands behind his back. "I did the write up on the fifteen test pilots who have."

"_Fifteen_? I didn't know it was that many."

"We've been very thorough, Jack. And that's something to keep in mind. Not for how there will be things we _haven't_ prepared for, of course, but for how we know the machine's psychological impact on the user."

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning it can leave one feeling distinctly powerful at times and that may not be the case. You know this. So again, don't be over confident. You've only had a month to get used to it, even with Bumblebee's help. And that's really the point I wish to make. The test results inside Bumblebee's mind were stellar. But we know Airachnid's influence is rampant inside Arcee's damaged mind. So this is a reminder not to stick your neck out, no matter how tempting." He nodded his head to indicate a direction.

Jack looked over to see Rafael among the seven experts from Blackrock industries. People of a caliber not often seen by the public, of various ages and ethnicity, but none as young as Raf. At first Jack had wondered how such advanced intellects would welcome the younger Rafael, but these people knew that for Rafael to even be introduced to them gave him certain unspoken credentials.

He was working closely with them now, as he had all month, the whole group of them having devoured the reams of data from his first ill fated trip into Arcee's mind. But even more importantly the test dives Jack had taken with Bumblebee, who had staunchly volunteered himself once again.

So if any group of people could keep Jack safe in the ensuing trials, having learned what they could come to expect, it would be them. And Rafael was right in among them, happier than he had ever been.

Seeing that reminded Jack of just how many worlds were all coming together in this joint venture. And somehow he stood at the nexus of it all. A lot hinged on his success. He didn't want to think what it would mean if he failed. As before, it all stirred around in his mind like a stew and he sighed, half forgetting Blackrock was there, just as he had Miko.

Blackrock smiled.

"You have a busy mind, Mr. Darby. But you need to stay focused."

Jack looked back at him.

"It's really the blind leading the blind. All this. Isn't it?" Jack asked with his own nod towards the group of computer experts.

"To a point. But everything is a calculated risk. And in that area we now have a distinct advantage."

"Does it get an easier when you can just throw money at it?" Jack asked strangely and not a little unfriendly. He was thinking that his failure probably meant less to Blackrock and his people than anyone else. That it wasn't the feelings of his friends and family on the line. Or Arcee's life. That this was all just an experiment to see through to the end. If Jack's edginess bother him at all it didn't show. Blackrock was unfazed as ever.

"Only financially. But you mistake me, Jack. You went from being a teenager working for minimum wage to a grown man in the middle of an intergalactic war. You've been privy to secret weapons, alien lifeforms and such _endearing _terms as vengeance, vendetta, life and death. Feel thankful you're not privy to all that at my level."

Jack was taken back at that, and admittedly he was a little impressed. As much from the words as from how Blackrock gave him a glimpse at what the price of things were when you were a billionaire working with the CIA. For a moment, he glimpsed a darker, more difficult world than his own.

His scorn of Blackrock had been a little unfair then, but the man took it all in stride and let Jack know that there were things at stake he couldn't begin to imagine.

He didn't want to. Render unto Caesar, right? All he wanted was to be able to help Arcee. And since he was so close to finally getting his chance, he felt restless and even a bit touchy. The last hours were always the hardest. So he had to assume that Blackrock was right. He would have stay focused.

As if he knew all along how Jack was feeling, and he probably had, Blackrock merely smiled again. Another nameless technician came over then, stopping politely behind Blackrock, who turned to hear what news there was.

"We're ready, sir." The man said, his own excitement tempered by his professionalism. Blackrock was no man to be buoyant with, but neither was he a tyrant. The billionaire turned and offered his usual tolerant smile.

"Good." he said.

**ooo**

And so it was on September twenty first of that year, Jack Darby was the first human to cortical dive into the mind of a Transformer.

_ Officially. _

Odd to think, as the massive white table pivoted smoothly on it's gyro, how everything that had come to pass had it's own measure of a blessing in disguise. As Jack was leveled out and guided into place next to the VR4, he stared way up at the ceiling of the old missile silo again, musing over these past six months.

First of all, their rogue piloting of the VR3 had been a break through in more ways than one. It proved that the theory was sound and it proved that there was something that couldbe done. For Arcee's mind was _not_ empty, but a landscaped trap set by her enemy. And while this had it's own measure of being a nightmare for her friends and family, in a morbid sense it provided them with their first real measure of hope since her injury.

What was more, in seeking revenge, Jack had been brought full circle back to this very spot as the one that would go in after her. For his actions had unwittingly brought him to a time and place that the CIA and Blackrock Industries could seize the moment, cement their interests, and grant Jack Darby a reprieve he had never expected in his wildest dreams.

As the table was locked down, Jack raised his head for a last look around, noting out of of the corner of his eye the technician reading the suit's hood.

Everyone was watching him, and his eyes passed over them slowly.

He really _was_ a nexus of all their worlds and again he found himself in between so many multiple interests and unique personalities, he would need to write it all down on paper to keep it straight.

The technicians, engineers and computer experts all around him held an infectious excitement, since they were granted the rare treat of seeing a prototype of their work come to fruition in less than ten years.

And there stood Fowler next to Blackrock. The billionaire partnered with the CIA. Both of them probably seeing this as a new day for mankind in an intergalactic war between mighty beings of technology.

There was his mother, caught between fear and determination and smiling bravely. And his friends. One a gentle little genius in thick glasses, the other a brazen beauty trying to be encouraging.

And behind them all stood those very same mighty beings of technology.

The Autobots.

Each one of them as varied and vulnerable as the humans in the room. What was this moment like for them? To see such a tiny, soft, _fragile_ little creature willing go forth into such danger to save one of their own? They had done all they could. They had offered what advice, advancements and modifications there were and at the end it was all up to Jack. They stood silently. Respectfully. And Jack had never seen them look more dignified.

And at the last he looked over at Arcee, lying so still on her own table next to his. He could only see her head and chest. The rest was hidden by the great sleek bulk of the VR4 console between them. Even so, it too looked like another two million dollar video game, with cables of all kinds running off both beds, to the unit, and back to a bank of computers behind him that cost more than all the automobiles in Jasper. Even as he craned his neck for a look, Rafael walked over and slipped into his chair.

Generously afforded a place at the table by Blackrock himself, he gave Jack a huge smile and a nod, probably feeling to shy for something as corny as a thumbs-up.

Jack gave him one of his own, anyway. Taking this as his cue, the technician came up and made ready with the hood, nodding to his assistant and mindful of the color coded leads hooked up all over Jack's body. The all were talking quietly among themselves but for one, the head-tech, who adjusted his headset and checked the readings on his console.

"Thirty seconds on the helmet." He said quietly. adjusting a few dials. Everyone present, who wasn't busy with preparations, turned to see the massive flat-screen monitor light up, set up off to the side earlier on a raised platform. From here, it would be an eight foot window into Arcee's mind.

But Jack wasn't looking at it. Looking back down away from Rafael, he took a second for one last look at Arcee.

She looked so delicate and beautiful. And still. Lifeless. Lost. He longed for those startling cobalt blue eyes to smile at him again.

Then he turned back with a firm nod and the technicians gently brought the hood over his face, covering his view like a veil, Jack stared up at the ceiling again, waiting as they put an oxygen line in place. He licked his exposed lips. When all was ready, he could hear his vitals take up their steady beeping from the medical teams console.

His heart was strong and steady. He was ready for this.

The two technicians on each side of him then activated a swing arm and large visored helmet swung down into place. A soft hand behind his neck gently helped Jack lift his head and then the whole apparatus click into place, locking him into the system and starting the initial merger.

"Four one three." One of the techs said quietly, checking the readouts on the helmet. The medical team acknowledged softly from their station.

Jack ran his arms and legs through the initial flex trials, the mobility technician off to the side quietly checking them off one by one while monitoring the integrity of the suit on his screen. Cooling umbilicals along the floor frosted, ready to keep both man and machine at a steady temperature. Power thrummed, building now. Jack began to feel like he was floating as thick gelled pads slid over the table and clipped into place, surrounding him in a soft crash-couch cushion. Inside the dark confines of his helmet, Jack felt the now familiar sensation of his senses graying out, like they were shifting to another world. He no longer felt the table he lay upon, and his felt his bodies energy shifting planes. This was both more mild and more intimidating than what Rafael had experienced and indeed, just as Blackrock had cautioned, there was something heady about feeling such power.

"We're getting a signal. Minus fourteen elliptical." Another voice added to the sound in Jack's mind. Jack couldn't see it, but the large viewing screen began to coalesce into an image that was the input coming in from Arcee's mind.

It wasn't promising. Miko cupped her hands over her mouth and groaned ever so slightly. June's eyes were miserable. Fowler sighed and shook his head. Blackrock said nothing.

"Suit integrity one hundred percent." the man announced.

This was it.

"Phase one complete. We're good to go, people. Count it down." the head-technician spoke and a young woman began calling off the remaining seconds from her computer. They wasted no time now, since standard procedure was to not let Jack linger at this stage for longer than was necessary. So they needed no final green light from Blackrock or the seven experts. This team knew it's job and everything was going smoothly and by the numbers.

"Bridging over in five...four..." The woman hit the last five seconds of her countdown and Jack pursed his lips.

How long do such seconds last? When there are just only a few to go? Is it true what people say that they seem to last forever? Did time actually slow down in those last few heartbeats? But it didn't really matter. By the time he tried to answer his own question, the moment had arrived.

Jack Darby's world bled out to white noise and the smell of cotton candy. His vision turned to static.

_Then he was falling._ _He focused on Arcee in his mind's eye, drawing himself down and in, seeking an outbound signal path as he had been disciplined. Biting his lip as the sprawling nexus of the __V4 program welled up in his vision, he had his first view of what everyone else had seen. _

_ A deep stab of sorrow hit him. For the landscape of Arcee's mind he was diving towards was not the crystal lattice of light and energy that had been Bumblebee's. It was dark and foreboding, grim and cold. A gray dome of rolling clouds and shadows. _

_ But Jack Darby never hesitated. Like a nimbus of light, his signal fell right down and in, riding the spirals of current and steeling himself. _

Okay baby, here I come.


	55. In Deep

**In Deep**

_ I once had a pocket full of quarters. No, I still have them. No wait, I just dropped them. They're twinkling in the sand. I have to pick them up. The sun's so bright. My quarters will be hot to the touch. No, they're cold. Why are they so cold? The sand tickles my knees. Scrambling and scratching. It's to late anyway. Once you lose something in the sand you never find it. No, that's not true! I've got to find her! What is it I am looking for again? I had more than two quarters, right? I'm ten years old. I'm out in the sand. Mom would freak. This was a bad idea. Some shortcut. My bike tire dug in and I fell. I lost my quarters. No soda for me. No candy bar for me. I feel funny anyway. My mouth is dry. I'm not hungry anymore but I'm thirsty. So thirsty. Am I lost in the sand, too? _

_ "Jack Darby." _

_ A voice? A voice. Who was that? Uh oh! Busted! Was that mom? Where did my bike go? Am I dreaming? It's to bright out here but at least now I can ride home in the car._

_ "Jack Darby."_

_ I am Jack Darby._

**ooo**

As if waking from a light sleep, Jack stirred where he lay on the huge white servo-table that was the pilot couch of the VR4. It wasn't a deep sleep. More of a kind of nap, where people come right back awake where they left off and they call out to buy some time so no one notices they were asleep in the first place.

"Yeah, I'm here. What is it?" He mumbled, turning his helmeted head a little. But his world turned over and he felt a wave of dizziness. His mind told him one thing, but his body told him another. He should have been back at the base but impossibly he was standing out in the sand in nothing but a pair of boxers. Why did he feel cold then? But already it began to make sense as he came back to himself. He knew what this was. He knew where he was. And what he was doing.

"Three six binary. Sim integrity ninety eight point two. See? He's already adjusting." A technicians voice spoke in Jack's ear as he raised an arm and looked out over the rolling sand dunes, shading his eyes from the hot sun.

Bright, empty, rolling desert. Arcee's mind. Just like last time. It was still Earth, not Cybertron, and that was something at least. And it wasn't that limbo-like swamp either. Jack tried not to think beyond the moment, noting how alone he was standing there. And exposed. He waited, as planned, the surrounding landscape hazy and indistinct despite the harsh glare. Nothing happened.

"Well. Looks like we're in business." He nodded grimly after a moment. The head-tech said nothing, giving it an additional twenty seconds. Back at the base, he waited for Doctor Nakamura to give him the green light. Doctor Nakamura was an elderly Japanese computer expert and head of the team of seven. He wasn't exactly an easy man to know and Jack had only talked with him socially on two different occasions, but this didn't stop Nakamura from being totally devoted to his safety. He looked up now, over at the young Rafael, and then back at the head-tech to give him a curt nod.

"All right. Phase two in ten." The man turned back to his own team. "How do you feel?" He asked Jack where he lay suited up on his table.

"Off ratio still. There's desert here but I can still feel the chill pads from the couch." Jack was looking at his arms and how they shimmered a little in the simulation.

"Inverted stimulus feed. Should clear up. Full dive in five. Here we go." The man replied smoothly. A heartbeat later Jack stumbled a little as the cold pressure around his skin faded away and he felt 'wholly' outside, with even the sand burning his bare feet.

"Bingo." He said, his vertigo fading away and the sensation of being in two places at once disappearing. "I'm in." He knew he was back on the table, decked out in his dive suit and helmet, but for all intents and purposes, he felt like he was standing out in the open desert.

"How do your temples feel?"

"Better with the new pads." Jack replied. There was some discomfort but not much. No more needles and cables in the VR4. No more seizures. Blackrock's team had vastly improved the biometric interface, thanks to Rafael's ill fated attempt. And speaking of which, Jack seemed to be back in that very same spot.

"Open channel." The head-tech spoke and suddenly Jack could hear the sounds of the base in his ear, like an invisible ear piece.

**ooo**

On the huge flat-screen, Jack's image turned where he stood on the sand, looking around a bit. Then he held his arms out.

"Still here." He took a moment to comment and everyone watching let out a sigh of relief. There was even some chuckling and scattered clapping from Blackrock's people and Ratchet merely straightened back up and harrumphed his approval.

Only Blackrock, June, Miko and Optimus held still. June wasn't going to unwind until Jack hopped back off the table here at the base. Miko felt a tug of emotions as she stared at Jack's handsome little figure. Optimus was looking over at Arcee, his face grave, and Blackrock was studying the desert behind Jack, his eyes already on the lookout. He wasn't the only one. He looked over at the seven experts, Rafael included, working intently at their stations to control the matrix and almost as if by cue, Rafael looked up at him.

"Movement." He said, crestfallen, his face looking sour and worried at the same time.

"Already?" Another replied, hunching over their monitor.

"How about some clothes?" The small Jack figure called out, having not heard them.

"Get him equipped." Doctor Nakamura ordered, his voice steady.. One of of the younger experts seated around him started tapping keys. Then Nakamura turned in his chair towards all those assembled.

"Mister Esquivel has indicated movement. We are tracking." he intoned. The small talk died away immediately and June Darby crossed her arms to hug herself.

Again, on the screen, Jack's small figure looked around. This time he had heard.

"Understood." he replied. He answered for them all. Not that everyone hadn't expected this. But to put it as Miko would have, now is when 'shit got real'.

**ooo**

Even as he stood there, a set of boots, jumpsuit and helmet blossomed into place around Jack's fully integrated VR form. He felt it. As real as if it was actually happening, and he was used to the sensation now. Even how the helmet appeared around his head, suddenly stifling and tight. He quickly snapped up the visor and checked his gear.

His VR suit looked like a modified jumpsuit, much like the kind that Arcee's holographic rider 'Sadie' wore. That had been on purpose. Anything to give Jack and edge.

"Weapons check." He said. And he breathed a sigh of relief as they too blossomed into place. Then he finally looked up, his eyes scanning the desert sand as his hands worked over his harness.

There was no time to waste. There had been extensive talks about how they should proceed with the official dive, for some of the experts had expressed a worry that Rafael's 'dragonsnakes' would be right there waiting. But faced with the set up of the matrix and the speed the interface, they couldn't just snap Jack inside Arcee's mind 'guns blazing'. What they could do is feather the signal for about fifteen seconds and see whether or not they should fully commit the transfer. This way, they could scan for the snakes and make sure Jack wouldn't be dropped into a nest of them. That had worked well enough, but they had already been on the lookout as the dive team finished taking Jack all the way in. And sure enough, once he feet hit the ground, Rafael had detected incoming signals. Far off on the horizon, just as before. You could see them now if you looked. Movement in the heat wave shimmers.

Jack wished there was some other way to confirm he was well and truly inside Arcee's mind. He remembered this moment all to well and he knew what was coming at him through the sand.

"ETA one minute twenty." Another expert called. She was a small town prodigy from Iowa with an IQ of one hundred and forty nine. She drank to much soda and she was wishing she had one now, as her station registered the movement and triangulated the data.

"Decision point." Nakamura said, turning to look at Blackrock.

But Jack Darby made the call.

"Key the suit. We tested this enough. Let's see how it works now that I'm inside." he called out.

Nakamura did not look away from his employer. Blackrock nodded, pointedly not looking at June or Miko.

"Key the suit." Nakamura instructed his team.

In theory, and about four million lines of code later, the Chameleon armor had been integrated into the VR software in the closest approximation possible. In of itself, it had been a truly amazing feat of programming. But it also had the highest projected failure rate. Not to mention they truly didn't know how weapons and armor would translate inside Arcee's mind. Would they work at all? Or would they be phantom nothings? Something else altogether? Even the promising results from simulations run inside Bumblebee's mind weren't much help. The possibilities had been endless...and then endlessly debated. But this was the moment to finally find out and Jack waited, able to visually pick up the approaching dots of the breaching dragonsnakes swimming towards him.

"There's eight of them." Jack noted. He looked down, hoping against hope that he would shimmer and vanish as his signal was cloaked.

Nothing happened.

**ooo**

There had been that moment when Rafael had attempted his VR dive into Arcee's mind when the three young members of team Prime knew something was wrong. It's that unspoken moment where you begin to feel a growing sense of unease. A point where you instinctively know things were going to go from bad to worse. Very quickly. And because of that, you know you only have seconds to do something about it. Jack Darby punctuated that moment when he looked back up from his malfunctioning suit to watch the approaching snakes.

"Uhh." He said.

Back at base, everyone in a lab-coat was suddenly moving. Not quickly, but urgently. Michael Blackrock punctuated that moment for June, when he uncrossed his own arms and set his hands on his hips. He was watching Jack's tiny figure on the screen.

"Uhh." Jack echoed, standing there in the sand.

June stopped hugging herself. She took a step towards Blackrock.

"What's going on?" she said with a frown. Blackrock looked back at her over his shoulder, and even under these circumstances, June was startled to see his pale blue eyes give her such a steely look.

"Stay. Calm." Was all he said, his voice holding none of it's usual mild manner. Normally though, such a direct order would produce the _opposite_ result and Fowler moved around Blackrock to be close to June, but June stared back into Blackrock's eyes and surprisingly felt herself a little taken back.

Miko on the other hand, couldn't have cared less. Her own eyes were capable of such a look themselves and in a rare show of solidarity, she stepped up to stand next to June.

"Tell us what's going on." she said.

"Now come on, you two." Fowler said, putting a hand on each of their shoulders. But Blackrock had already looked away and it was this gesture that brought their collective gaze back to the screen. They waited. And watched.

Rafael had been the one to hear Jack earlier about eight snaked, and in growing fear, he double checked. Yes. Jack was right. There were eight.

_What did that mean? _

He worked furiously, faster than the experts around him, as their collective stations worked on the VR matrix itself.

"ETA fifty nine seconds." Soda-girl called out.

"Weapons." Nakamura intoned.

**ooo**

Out in the sand, Jack breathed a sigh of relief when two huge sub machine guns formed in his hands and he took their weight smoothly.

A little cliched perhaps, but straight forward in their design with more of that theoretical programming. Something along the lines of target-specific AI that had been designed to seek out Airachnid's influence and there-by prevent any further damage to Arcee's mind. Again, it was all theory on a stack of paper thicker than a phone book, but sound enough for what they needed. And here they were meant to pack a punch. Of a kind that they had only dared fire them once inside Bumblebee's mind. They had a nice fat magazine of explosive shells that in the matrix were lines of killer-code tailor made for Airachnid's signal.

Jack loved them. They looked like huge, oversized Uzi's with a fat barrel. And now was never a better time to find out what they could really do.

Jack went to chamber a round and to his shock he found there wasn't a mechanism to trigger.

They were both two solid formed blocks that only _looked_ like a firearms. The trigger was part of the casing. So was the magazine. And they didn't have one single moving part.

"What the hell?" Jack said, turning the weapon up so he could cautiously look at the end and he was even further surprised to notice the barrels were solid. Capped off and not even bored out.

All he held were two mock ups. Just chunks of aluminum. Unlike anything he had used inside Bumblebee's head.

"What are these?" He frowned, pointing one at the sand and trying to fire it.

Nothing happened.

**ooo**

"Something's wrong." The weapons expert frowned, speaking those dreaded words for the first time.

Nakamura turned to Blackrock who in turn looked at the head-tech for the dive.

"Pull him out." Blackrock said immediately.

The head-tech turned to do just that, his people already engaging the necessary protocols to bring Jack Darby's signal back out of Arcee's mind. And out of danger.

Preliminary tests showed it took thirty seconds and they had plenty of time. In a way, even this was a result to be learned from, although he was sure Jack was going to be plenty upset.

**ooo**

"Return protocol." Jack heard the head-tech announce suddenly. It wasn't Nakamura speaking and he knew something must be wrong for them to suddenly initiate retrieval.

Jack had fully intended to spoil their plans for more tests and data gathering. He had meant to forge right ahead and get some results of his own. But now he didn't feel like arguing the point and only his sense of preservation to fight another day kept him from despairing that he was being driven out of Arcee's mind in the same fashion Rafael had. They would just have try something else and he was glad he hadn't moved from sector zero-one. He held still, watching, waiting. Was it getting brighter? He looked down at himself again.

Nothing happened.

And then the sand shifted.

**ooo**

"The sand shifted!" Rafael cried.

"He's off point." Another expert announced suddenly.

"Some kind of piggy-back modulation. It's over-riding entry point." A second added.

"We have a scramble!" A third immediately followed up. They had expected something like this, but whatever was happening was chewing through their fail-safes like paper. The best code writers within three thousand miles and their containment efforts were broken through like sugar glass. For two of them, they stared at the screen, hardly able to believe what they were seeing. A third cursed under his breath, flinging up new defenses and watching them dissolve faster than he could counter. The specially designed grid to show the VR integrity was turning red faster than he could keep it green.

"Help me, you idiots!" He hissed at them, snapping them out of it. He was considerate enough to be painfully aware of Jack Darby's mother and girlfriend not more than twenty feet away and he was trying to not looked scared for their sake.

"Look at that!" Another member of the team pointed.

**ooo**

Inside Arcee's corrupted mind, the sand under Jack's boots suddenly surged up in a huge bubble and rolled like wave under his feet.

At first, Jack thought the dragonsnakes were already upon him, but it was something a bit more simple and sinister. He was pitched down off the sand dune, tossed about just as Rafael had been and the light began to bleach out as the dunes began to shift and roll around him. The sun began to dance in the sky.

"Oh, shit!" he cried.

**ooo**

"Signal scatter." The first expert looked up at Nakamura. "Loop snare."

"Over-ride!" The elderly Japanese man snapped.

"We can't!" Came the dreaded answer.

"It's evolved." Rafael said, his fingers flying on his own keys. "The traps evolved! The bitch has traps within traps." he groaned.

"We can't get a safe lock." The head-tech for the dive team sounded distressed now, turning to look at Nakamura.

"ETA Thirty two seconds!" Soda-girl called out. But even as she said the words, it was to late. They were past the time needed to safely pull Jack's biometric signature back into his own body. This wasn't the VR3. They couldn't just yank out a cable and slap him awake.

He was so deeply integrated into the program, the result would have been like ripping out his spine.

"Emergency shut down!" Nakamura snapped. A last resort. It wouldn't be pretty. Jack would more than likely soil himself and promptly vomit and the medical crash team raced over to his prone form, making ready.

By now, Fowler had to restrain June and Miko both, who at least had sense enough not to scream and add to the chaos. But they were frantic. June knew enough from the four weeks of debriefings that Jack was in trouble. She whimpered, biting her lip and looking over at Optimus who came forward a step with Ratchet, even though there was nothing the Autobots could do either.

"Do something!" June cried up at him, squeezing Fowler's arm hard with both hands as he held her back.

"You asshole." Miko snarled. Her eyes were for Blackrock alone and she was glaring at him so hard it was a wonder his head didn't explode.

He didn't even look at her.

"Stay calm!" Fowler said, over-riding the two women just on strength alone.

**ooo**

Jack heard everything. He heard his mother and heard Miko and heard Fowler. He was picking himself up, trying to keep his feet, and fighting the same vertigo that had struck Rafael. Only this was worse. The sun strobed in the sky and the sand danced and splashed around him in the air like waves. He was covered in it, slowly sinking down into a forming depression as walls of sand built up around him. And he could hear that hissing hyena like cackle of the approaching dragonsnakes in the air. They were close. To close.

He was in trouble. Deep trouble. It was all to clear he had been sucked right back into Airachnid's booby-trap. All their preparation had been for nothing. All the planning, counter measures and reprogramming were a waste of time. He had stepped right back into Arcee's compromised mind and all his little human fail-safes were plowed under as easily as loosing quarters in the desert. Airachnid's corruption was absolute.

Looks like she might end up killing him after all.

With a sick twist of his guts, Jack hoped nothing drastic would happen back at base like his body exploding or something.

He wanted to throw up.

"For fuck sake, get me out of here!" He couldn't help but cry just as the carrier signal scattered in his ear, turning to static now. He thought he could still hear Rafael, but it was patchy.

"Raf?" Jack cried, his eyes watering as the flickering light of the sun assailing his senses. "Raf! Jesus, give me a club or something at least!" he had long since dropped the mock-up guns and now he was completely unarmed.

Jack could feel them now through the sand. The dragonsnakes. Soon they would breach up around him just as they had Rafael and this time there were more of them. He staggered drunkenly, his arms pinwheeling, fighting to just stay standing upright.

"Shit!" Jack cried, slapping his hands over his ears suddenly as they started ringing. His suit was shorting out now with feedback and his temples were burning.

There was nothing he could do. Nothing anyone _could_ do. Something about this booby-trap had prepared itself for the next intrusion. Altered itself to make sure it's prey didn't escape so easily this time. Well it worked.

The bitch had him cold.

**Please leave a review and have your say! We see what happens to Jack by the end of the weekend. Stay tuned!**


	56. Familiar Face

**Familiar Face**

All Jack could hear now was the sand. And the hissing cackle of the approaching dragonsnakes. He was down on his knees, his hands clapped over his ears, with his eyes squeezed shut, feeling the sand shower him as the desert current swirled around him in a circle. Would the depression that had formed bury him? Or swallow him whole? Or would the snakes burst through and tear him apart first? He didn't dare look. Every time he tried to lift his head and see, there was a howling blast of sound and motion assailing his senses and the sky would flicker like madness itself. So he was effectively blind and unable to keep his feet as the ground rolled about like ocean waves.

**ooo**

Even the best professionals can lose their composure when they exhaust their own private store of reasoning and know-how. Confronted with the fact that nothing they tried was working, and that they had no real answers, everyone started talking all at once from among the three teams. Program experts, dive team and medical staff alike, they were all calling out data while desperately trying to regain control. Not to mention team Prime itself, where Fowler had his hands full just restraining June, much less Miko. The latter had pulled free and tore around to face Blackrock head on, glaring at menacingly.

"You knew this would happen, you fucker!"

"You're not helping." Blackrock spared her a rare frown and two members of his own staff, plus Bulkhead, came forward to restrain her. This only made her even more furious and she fought them off as the one called Bulkhead looked on in a panic, desperate to placate her.

On the screen, Jack was in serious trouble. Optimus stepped forward.

"We must do something, Michael Blackrock." he said. Some of his bolder warriors were a step behind him, Wheeljack and the one called Smokescreen.

"Jack's in trouble." Wheeljack added needlessly.

"Can we get in there, somehow?" Smokescreen was practically hopping from one foot to the other, such was his urgency.

It was then that even the billionaire appeared at a loss. For when Optimus Prime himself addressed him, Blackrock realized he didn't know what he could possibly say. Or do. Were they all about to watch Jack Darby die?

More for the sake of appearances, than any affirmative action he may have had in mind, Blackrock started forward towards Rafael and the seven experts. If anything, he would shut off the feed to the overhead so they wouldn't have to witness what was going to happen to Jack on the big screen. A portion of his concentration noted, off handedly, that Rafael was typing furiously, his hands a blur.

**ooo**

"Arcee! For God's sake, help me!" Jack cried out to the chaotic world around him, risking another look up, desperate and lost now himself. The sky boiled, the wind howled...and then it happened.

**ooo**

Everyone froze as there was a clap of thunder from the speakers on the large flat-screen. As they watched, a wave of pressure slammed out from the center of the crater, through the air, blasting the sand back in all directions. And it happened just as the eight terrible dragonsnakes breached out of the desert like keening pillars of nightmare all around Jack, their long segregated bodies black and purple, with the same malicious fang filled faces.

As it was, they were caught completely by surprise and the blast struck them a heartbeat later, flinging them away and out onto the sand, scattering them in wails of shock and frustration. One took a particularly bad hit and landed hard, it's body cracking in several places. It lay on the sand shorting out and spasming and screeching and as the others twisted and coiled around to regain their balance, they stayed clear of it, uncertain and suddenly wary.

For a moment, in both worlds, all was still. Completely still.

Jack took his hands away from his face and blinked at his fingers, feeling like Zeus himself had cast down a lightning bolt.

"Holy shit." He whispered, turning his hands over and hearing the change in his voice. "Is this what I think it is?" he asked, awestruck.

Back in Central Command, pulled up short as much as everyone else, Blackrock looked over at Rafael where he had his finger jabbed down hard on the 'enter' key at his station. There was a strange fire in his eyes, for one so timid, and then, even more to the surprise of all, he released the key and grabbed a headset at hand.

"It's exactly that!" he answered his friend. "And I suggest you get out of that hole and kick some ass!" The young genius cried.

To the shock of all, dragonsnake, Autobot, and human alike, Megatron's incredibly massive form stood up in the sand and shook himself out.

You didn't have to tell Jack Darby twice. Everything had snapped back to normal with a cold rush of pressure, plus a few extras, and he felt better immediately. More than better. He felt powerful. _Very_ powerful. Wickedly powerful. Courtesy of his friend Rafael and his amazing gifts.

"Well, fancy that." Wheeljack said, blinking in surprise. Even Optimus was staring, and everyone was looking on in mute shock.

Jack Darby was Megatron, given form in Arcee's mind, and it was just what the doctor ordered. He lowered his hands and gave his head a single shake to clear it. "Fuck yeah." he snarled, in Megatron's voice, and then he simply walked up out of the depression of sand. The seven remaining dragonsnakes took one look at him and screeched in alarm, sliding back away from him in great haste and turning back to stare like scavengers confronted with a greater predator.

"I can do this thing?" Jack asked, looking over at them, and before anyone else could think to come between the two of them, Rafael answered him.

"Yes! They're not part of Arcee!"

"Rafael, wait." Blackrock said but that's exactly what Jack had no intention of doing. When he flexed his arm and Megatron's great warblade slammed out, all bets were off. With a powerful leap, Jack came right down among the snakes, scattering them further, and slamming his blade through the tail of the nearest one.

It screeched in terror, straining with all it's might to pull away rather than turn and fight. And Megatron/Jack obligingly pulled it back up to himself, hand over hand, before finally slamming his foot down on the back of it's head and crushing it's skull. A second lashed it's tail at Megatron's face as he straightened up, but in a blur of speed he caught it in his fist.

A moment later, and then there were only five.

Flinging aside the two pieces he had just cut in half, Megatron turned to see two snakes unite against him, attacking from opposite sides at the same time. His blade took the first, cutting it's head clean off, and when the second got through and bit down on his forearm, Jack snarled in fury from his crash couch.

"You like biting people, huh?" Megatron growled, seizing the snake by it's upper jaw and tearing his arm free. Having done that, he grabbed hold of the _lower _jaw and tore it's skull in half. It made a horrible wet-metal crunching sound as Jack ripped it down the length of it's body and this gruesome act broke the impasse back at Autobot base. Everybody started talking at once, Blackrock and Nakamura coming over to Rafael, who watched the screen with a triumphant look on his face.

Miko too, gave a tremendous whoop of joy as she watched the show, pulling away from Blackrock's attendants and backing up next to Bulkhead. They let her be.

"Omigawd!" June gasped as she and Fowler turned to watch, her eyes wide as she struggled to follow what was happening.

"Well I'll be a Yankee doodle dandy." Fowler stared, open mouthed, as up on the big screen Megatron's swung fist pulverized the head of yet another snake as he continued the fight.

"Is...is that Megatron?" June stammered.

"It's Jack." Wheeljack grinned, turning to Ratchet and Optimus. "Ya gotta admit...you don't see that everyday."

"Wow, look at him go!" Bulkhead rumbled.

Prime said nothing. His face was set. He watched for a moment as Megatron/Jack leveled his cannon and blasted another dragonsnake, which exploded into fragments like a grenade. Then he stepped forward, his very presence and size drawing the attention of half the room. He looked over at Arcee and then down at the humans.

"This is a reckless act. We must restrain him."

Blackrock heard him of course, and being of like mind, he was already taking action. He had chosen his team well and with only a few words, he brought the rest of the room back under control.

"Monitor status and report." He commanded curtly, and the heads of the dive team and the medical crew quickly got their people working. Turning back, and staying close to Rafael, he picked up an additional headset near one of the program experts. And holding up a finger in June's direction, he spoke firmly to Jack, holding the device up against his ear

"Jack Darby! Hold your fire."

Jack heard him in both worlds of course and amazingly he did so, checking his action even as he made to draw a bead on the last remaining snake, which was hissing away through the sand in full retreat.

"But don't let it escape!" Rafael cried, pushing forward. Blackrock turned to him with a sharp look, meaning to say more, but then he thought better of it. Grimly, he turned back to the screen.

"Yes. Don't let it escape." He concurred and as the frantic activity died down in central, tempered by Prime and Blackrock alone, everyone present watched Jack chase down the last remaining snake. At the last, it tried to dive under the sand, but Jack caught by the tail, and strangely they watched with mixed emotions as he over-powered it and dispatched it with extreme prejudice.

By tearing it's head off.

Only Miko cheered the action. "That's what I'm talkin' about!" she cried. "Mega-Jack!"

Michael Blackrock, billionaire, fought the urge to roll his eyes at her dramatic exclamation. And then he fought the small surge of his own temper as well.

"Jack. Hold your position, please. And allow us too...reorganize." he said. Then he lowered the headset and turned back to the teams present.

"Scan for more hostiles and anything else out of the ordinary. Damage report.." He called. He wasn't looking at Rafael, but his posture indicated that Rafael had better hold still for the moment.

"His numbers are up, but within tolerance." the head medical tech called out. And now they could all hear the rapid beep of Jack's vitals on the monitor. June was already headed over to confirm that for herself. Fowler let her go and he came over to Blackrock and Dr. Nakamura instead.

"Signal integrity spiked for a moment. But whatever happened cut the interference and got us back online." The head-tech of the dive team sounded off. "We're solid now. Though I don't know what happened." He addressed his boss, his tone and words indicating there were other answers yet to be had. And not from him. Speaking of which, Blackrock turned and finally looked down at Rafael, who only now was looking a little chagrined.

"Doctor Nakamura?" Blackrock turned his head slightly without looking away from the younger man.

"Program integrity ninety eight point three." The older Japanese man kept how he was feeling off his face, his voice controlled."We are unclear as to what happened."

Blackrock knew that it was torturous for a man like Nakamura to use such a vague word as _unclear_. He turned to the man and gave him a level stare, hoping he was conveying that there was no shame to be had in the matter. Behind Nakamura, Jack's Megatron avatar was bent over at the waist, hands on his knees and breathing hard in the desert glare. Blackrock stared at it for a moment and then turned back around to Rafael. Nakamura quietly directed his team to get back to the task at hand, even though he kept half an ear turned towards Rafael and his superior, Mr. Blackrock.

"We are_ all_ unclear as to what just happened. I think it's time you explained yourself." Blackrock said directly to Raf.

**ooo**

"I didn't hold anything back. It just came to me. Like it always does." Rafael replied. It was hard not to feel like he was in the principal's office, what with the combined personalities of the individuals listening to him. Only Miko stood with him, leaning behind him against his computer station as she arrogantly showed that she accepted whatever Rafael had done as the right thing all along. But Blackrock wasn't bothering about her. Or her ignorance.

June was there, to his right, Optimus and Ratchet behind her, along with Fowler at her side. The members of team Prime were attentive but not too disapproving, standing a little apart since they were unwilling to isolate Rafael any further as he explained himself to Blackrock. And besides, they were more curious than anything else.

Blackrock took that as a good sign during this emergency debriefing. The adults and older members were beginning to see the younger ones less like children, even though there was still a current of motherly 'parenting' coming from June. And Blackrock felt that Optimus, in his own way, must have been between a rock and hard place over his concern for Jack Darby and the startling turn of events taking place inside the mind of one of his own people. Namely the unexpected appearance of another ancient enemy.

So whatever it was Rafael had done, he had better make it clear.

"Please continue, Rafael." He said quietly.

"Look, we talked it to death about the booby trap. We knew it was there and we thought we were ready." Rafael pushed his glasses up. "Well, we weren't. But it wasn't from lack of trying."

"You said something about the trap evolving?" June prompted.

"Yes. It _does_. That's why there were eight snakes instead of six, activated the moment Jack was fully inside. Airachnid must have used some kind of wicked recognition-replica strand. It was ready for the next attempt. For someone to try and come back in and help Arcee a second time. Juiced up. That's why the weapons froze up. I only had half a minute to make sure, but then everyone started talking at once. I was trying to tell Jack what I thought was going on, but he was already in trouble. And everything else we were trying was being shot to hell. I didn't know what else to do."

Blackrock could appreciate the young Esquivel using the term 'we' and not 'they'. He wouldn't separate himself from the older experts or their efforts, although it was apparent he had hit on something they had _all_ overlooked. And he had done it less than thirty seconds. He stood there now, looking a little pained, as if his own improvisation had surprised even himself.

"It's all right, Raf. So what _did _you do then?" Blackrock gently urged him on.

"It's no one's fault." Raf added humbly. "It was just a hunch. A wild one. Recognition is the key. Remember how we had all these experimental profiles written up to hide Jack's signature? And one suggestion was we send him in looking like one of the Autobots because maybe it would help jar Arcee's memory. Like maybe Optimus or Ratchet. But it was Amy who suggested that might make things _worse,_ sending in someone so pronounced. So we went in a different direction altogether and settled on having Jack look like something close to 'Sadie'. Who is already an integral part of Arcee's own make-up."

It was Amy herself, the soda pop girl listening from her chair, who got it first where Rafael was taking this and she piped up, forgetting herself.

"When the Chameleon armor failed, you ran with that. You put a different spin on it." She said, turning a few heads. Rafael gave them all a sheepish look when they turned back.

"I was desperate. I thought...what would happen if Airachnid's virus was confronted with someone it wasn't programmed to trap? That it wasn't programmed to challenge. Someone it would never expect. Someone that would make it react in a totally different way."

"Megatron?" Fowler frowned.

"An enemy of a different caliber that she _did _fear. An enemy that was a _greater_ threat than what she thought herself to be." Rafael replied.

"But it's not really Airachnid in there." June noted, more confused than the rest of them.

"This virus was created from her spark. It's as integral to her just as much as Sadie is to Arcee." Rafael explained. "So it thinks and feels like that of the progenitor. Airachnid. And _she_ thought she had us all cold, what with her infiltration and all. She's wasn't afraid of any of us. Not even Optimus. Because we're the good guys." Rafael went on with apparent disgust. "But Megatron? He would be the _last_ one she would expect. The last one she would dare challenge. So I was banking on the virus reacting to Megatron as something to be feared and avoided. Or at the very least, left alone. That's why his appearance cut through the interference and shut down the trap. The snakes didn't know _what _to do about him, but they knew enough to leave him alone. Just as Airachnid herself would have done in the real world. "

"But they still attacked him." Ratchet noted.

"Self defense I suppose. But Megatron's presence should at least insure we don't have anymore surprises. I thought, using him, we might finally get somewhere." When everyone waited for more, Rafael looked around at them all and shrugged.

"It's that simple." He said.

Blackrock smiled quietly, hiding the tug of admiration he felt. For a moment he studied his fingernails, looking down, his mind thoughtful.

"How did you get it to work so fast?" Amy interjected from behind him.

"I did a profile crunch." Rafael pushed his glasses up again. "We had no 'Megatron' written up, so I did a force-boot rewrite on Optimus Prime's profile, supplementing his name with Megatrons. Then I opened up everything we had on Megatron to the VR matrix from our own main computer. The program itself did the rest."

All Blackrock would allow was a sigh, his eyebrows going up in relief as he looked back up. He appraised Rafael with a softer expression.

"Well...very ingenious, Mr. Esquivel. But the question remains, what do we do now?" He turned to Fowler, June, Prime and Nakamura. Three of them were the primary people who had a say in Jack and Arcee's fate.

But it was Jack Darby, listening from his table, and listening as Megatron from the flat-screen, who stirred at these words. They both answered at the same time, causing more than one person to jump.

"Now? Now we keep going!" they growled together.


	57. Walkabout

**Walkabout**

"Pull out? What do you mean pull out?" Megatron frowned.

Michael Blackrock found addressing the dark lord of the Decepticons not the least bit intimidating as he stared up at the big screen, though it was a little strange. He knew he was talking to Jack Darby, but some simple atavistic fascination kept him talking to his avatar instead. And everyone else was watching the exchange as well, caught up in it even more now that it was Megatron stomping around inside Arcee's brain. It was hard to look away. Even June, having gone over to stand next to Jack's recumbent form, was looking up at Megatron instead of her son.

"I told you about being reckless." Blackrock said, his voice frosty from where he stood next to Dr. Nakamura. Secretly he hoped for some kind of interjection from the Autobots. Of the positive kind. And thankfully he wasn't disappointed. Optimus seemed strangely reluctant to speak up now, and he waited on Ratchet, who had no such qualms. Maybe it was the privilege of being team Prime's resident medical expert.

"Reckless isn't the half of it." The old warrior spoke up. "Again, we're getting ahead of ourselves here. You can't go touching off a round like that from Megatron's cannon like you're shooting tin ducks. We don't have a _clue_ how this is going to effect Arcee."

Rafael pushed up his glasses and licked his lips.

"I know it looks bad, Ratchet, but it worked. Airachnid's trap backed off. So if we're lucky, Jack might be able to walk right on through whatever lies ahead."

"Pah-lease. It won't be that easy and you know it." The old medic groused. "Have you given any thought to what kind of recognition Megatron, of all people, mightstir in Arcee if and when she sees _him_?"

Rafael, rather valiantly, forged ahead, even though exchanging arguments with Ratchet must have been torture.

"But you just said we don't have a clue how it will affect her. Why does it have to be bad? Maybe someone like Megatron would bring her right out of it like a snap of the fingers."

Ratchet made to counter this as well, but he then he softened a touch.

"Rafael, your optimism is admirable and I'll admit for _any _possibility at this point. But we can't just start hacking and blasting our way through. This is her _mind,_ after all."

"Agreed." Prime finally added.

As Ratchet finished speaking, Wheeljack nudged him.

"Tin ducks?" He asked. The old medic scowled as he turned to answer, venting his frustration on the younger Autobot warriors, rather than Rafael.

"It doesn't help matters that some of you younger bots are inclined to cheer Jack on." he grumped. Behind Ratchet, all Prime had to do was give his warriors a single look over their medical officers head. Bulkhead and Smokescreen looked decidedly uneasy, shifting on their feet, and Wheeljack just shrugged indifferently, but it was obvious they would stay quiet now.

Blackrock was relieved. All of this was perfectly sobering and chased away the last tendrils of excitement everyone had been feeling. Now Jack's destruction of the dragonsnakes was tempered with a good healthy dose of reality and he was back on track. A moment later, properly chastened, and having heard this exchange for himself, the young man agreed.

Megatron stood there in the sand looking contemplative, and then he spoke up.

"You're right. All of you are right. I'm sorry, guys. Optimus. I'll come out now if you think it best. Then we can take a fresh look at this."

Blackrock looked over at Miko and Rafael and he could tell, now that Jack had clipped his own wings, that they were back where he needed _them_ to be as well. Rafael had said his peace and was chewing the inside of his cheek, looking both hopeful and worried as he awaited the outcome of his desperate plan.

_ There we are, now perhaps we can make some real progress. And I can be a little generous._

"Well...let's evaluate what we happen to know right now." Blackrock began. "And then we'll decide what to do." He looked up and nodded at Prime and Ratchet and they all turned to listen as the three team leaders of the VR4 sounded off.

"Strong signal. Best we've had so far, in fact." the head-tech of the dive team felt compelled to add. "Not even a hint of interference."

"He's doing great over here. We may need to start rotating the table to keep his circulation up. But he should..." the head-tech of the medical team hesitated.

"Yes?" Blackrock prompted.

"Well sir, if there's anymore fighting to be done he needs to remember to breathe better."

"Understood. You got that Jack?"

"Yes." Megatron growled his answered.

"Does that mean you're going to let him go on? To _keep_ fighting?" Miko cut in. Blackrock ignored her. Ratchet answered for him, and in a second-hand way, addressed Jack as well.

"Patience, Miko. We have to be careful here." He said and the young Asian beauty managed to restrain herself for the moment. She wouldn't have been so generous if it hadn't been an Autobot who had answered her.

"Now we come to it." Blackrock turned back to the program experts and Dr. Nakamura. "Just where do we stand with these latest developments, Doctor?"

As everyone had been talking, the seven experts had been working. At the firm assistance of Dr. Nakamura, they had been crunching the numbers and root checking the matrix ever since the moment of Megatron's download and Jack's actions thereafter. Not to mention waiting to see if sixteen, or thirty two, or seventy four dragonsnakes were going to pour out of the surrounding sands by way of reply. But nothing had happened in the last half hour and the data was proving to be surprisingly stable. More than one of them had smiled, now that they had a moment to appraise Rafael's handiwork, and they couldn't help but feel excited. Every second of new data from the VR series was like ambrosia to them and secretly they wanted Jack to continue, now that they were pretty sure things were within tolerance.

The oldest of them turned and handed Dr. Nakamura a clipboard, letting him see the hard numbers for himself. The elderly Japanese man went through it quickly, drawing his own conclusions. Blackrock waited politely. Finally, Nakamura looked up.

"The matrix of the program has adapted perfectly to these new inclusions. Better than projected. And the Autobot Arcee's condition is unchanged. There has been no new activity and he is not under any immediate threat...that we can detect."

"Recommendations?"

"I would advise caution." The Japanese man answered neutrally, lowering the clipboard.

Blackrock knew Nakamura's team wanted to continue. With Nakamura himself it was hard to tell, especially since he would not overstep his place in offering any suggestions, but there was a world of meaning behind his words. For one, it was obvious that to stop now would mean another month of preparation as they had to re-evaluate everything. And really, all of their projections for this dive had been hypothetical so far, based as they were upon so many unknowns. So was that really wise at this stage? Another month of guesswork wouldn't change any outcomes now, regardless of what happened. Is this the moment where they dared learn on the fly?

That wasn't usually how billionaires did things. Blackrock sighed just a tiny bit.

If they really wished to salvage anything at all from this dive, they should continue. Plus, it was pleasing to see the team, Jack, and the VR series, perform under such conditions and how the matrix had adjusted itself beautifully to such a drastic changes.

And yet, Nakamura wasn't leaving out the fact that it was never wise to proceed under such conditions, even while alluding to how they couldn't just pull the plug every time they encountered the unknown. This was what they had truly prepared for, a working, shifting, stable matrix with a pilot who knew Autobots and, more importantly, the war. And he was a fighter too. A seasoned one.

_Just ask Airachnid. _

But it was still a fine pickle, either way you looked at it. So, it was up to Blackrock to determine where they went from here. He chose.

"I have faith in your team's abilities and how they will proceed with all necessary caution. We will continue, but emergency measures will be kept at level four at all times." he said. Then Blackrock turned to address Optimus, because here he had to be diplomatic. His responsibility, and his authority, only went so far. Considering Jack and the Autobot Arcee, Blackrock had no right to continue without the blessing of team Prime. Whatever _they_ decided, he must abide by, and as he spoke up he found he was curious.

How would they feel about leaving Arcee lie for another month? Would caution trump one member's safety over the other?

"That is, of course, if we have your blessing, Optimus. My team stands ready on your decision and that of Miss Darby. From a technical aspect, we are good to go. But I leave the rest to you."

"You feel then it is safe to proceed?" Optimus asked.

"Yes."

"For Arcee's sake as much as Jack's?"

Blackrock turned slightly.

"Dr. Nakamura?"

"The program matrix has plotted the Autobot Arcee's mind as completely as we can using a phase three tempest signal. She remains stable and unaffected by recent actions thus far."

"Not even a twitch." Ratchet grumbled. "But I suppose no change is better than a change for the worst." he put his hands on his hips.

At that, Prime turned towards the big screen.

"Jack?" His tone held a volume of questions of his own, directed at the young human warrior of his team.

"I'll be careful, Optimus. Until we know for sure what the killing of these things does to Arcee." Jack answered.

Blackrock felt satisfied. Perhaps only a Prime could temper his people in such a passive manner with such few words. By his sheer lack of response, he was making them that much more aware of their own actions. And without directly chastising Jack, Prime now had him policing himself judiciously. None of his people ever wanted to disappoint Optimus. It was an admirable trait, to inspire people like that. Blackrock felt a little bit of it himself in his presence. Then Optimus turned to June, proving that while he still had Arcee's well being in mind, he wasn't about to overlook the obvious.

Standing next to her son, June quailed a little under everyone's collective gaze, much as Rafael had. Nervously, her fingers squeezed the cold crash-couch cushions that were pillowed up around Jack like fat blue mushrooms.

"This is Jack's decision." She answered Optimus levelly and again Blackrock was impressed at how Prime could include all his people in his benevolence. Not even agent Fowler was left out.

"We shall proceed then, Michael Blackrock. If that is acceptable to you and agent Fowler." the massive Autobot leader turned to address the latter.

Fowler came to life, blinking in surprise, and uncrossing his arms.

"If it's ok with all of you, then it's fine by me, Prime. But what about Rafael?"

Blackrock's one eyebrow went up appreciatively. "Indeed." he mused.

"Don't mistake me." The old agent added smoothly, holding out both hands in a placating gesture. "I don't mean to suggest he needs a spankin'. What I'm gettin' at is that he saved Jack's life, right? A little unorthodox, sure, but is he going to be allowed to keep his seat?" Fowler nodded at Rafael as he came forward. "I know it would make me feel better about what lies ahead." he added.

Blackrock though for a moment. He had his own people to think about. And their professional pride.

"Dr. Nakamura?" he asked, turning back around to face the the program team. Dr. Nakamura straightened up.

"We are of the belief that Mr. Esquivel saved Jack Darby's life, where we could not." he answered gravely. And to the surprise of all, the elderly Japanese man turned and gave Rafael a small respectful bow. It may have been a little melodramatic coming from anyone else, but at the moment, the elderly man was literally radiating dignity. He turned back to his employer.

"I would humbly ask that he be allowed to remain with my team."

Rafael let out a visible sigh of relief and rubbed his temples with his fingers and Miko's eyes were shining bright. The actions of her countryman hadn't left her unaffected and gratefully, in this instance, she kept quiet. She squeezed Rafael's shoulders and gave him an encouraging little shake before she walked over to be next to Bulkhead. But Blackrock felt the need to say more.

"Then it's decided. Rest assured we'll be more receptive to the young Esquivel. But Rafael, please advise us of anything else that comes to you _before_ you act. You have a unique perspective here over any of us in that you know these people on a more personal level. So let's work together towards keeping them safe."

"Yes, sir." The young genius smiled, his relief vast, and Blackrock felt his program team relax around him. They were relieved with the outcome, having accepted Rafael some weeks ago. And with a touch of sentiment, Blackrock wished he could preserve this moment.. For it was rare that so many complex individuals could work together so smoothly or recover from such an unexpected turn of events. Even Miko had kept her peace. And in that, more than ever, Blackrock allowed himself some hope for this new era in the Transformer War.

_The only thing that would make this perfect, is if we actually find and rescue Arcee._

**ooo**

Three hour's later it didn't seem like that was going to be the case. Although Blackrock knew it was too early to tell, team Prime obviously had it's hopes set much higher in that they would have made some progress by now. And when Jack Darby found nothing but more desert, they all appeared a little visibly downcast. Even the appearence of a few more dragonsnakes might have helped, though no one wanted to press Jack's luck.

Slowly Jack's table rotated again, stabilizing his body pressure and circulation, and Blackrock knew there was talk about pulling him out soon. He could stay in a lot longer, but the tedium was settling in over _his_ team where despair was settling in over team Prime.

Not that it hadn't been an interesting three hours. At least for the program team. For one, it gave them ample time to flesh out what Jack was capable of as Megatron, along with a deeper scan to see just what the slaying of dragonsnakes did to Arcee's mind. The tests and the accompanying results were promising and the seven experts were buzzing from their consoles like bees. They would be happy as clowns for weeks to come just on this dive's results alone.

Blackrock sipped his coffee, ruminating over what he knew and all that he had been witness to on this day. He couldn't help but analyze things the way he did. He knew it was a matter of time before someone, more than likely Miko, grew resentful of the program team's obvious excitement. But they would deal with that confrontation when it happened. And gratefully, she had left Central Command for the time being with Bulkhead. It was a brief respite from her rather uncomfortable presence.

It had been almost twenty years since Blackrock had been in college at the ripe old age of fifteen, so he had been spared the usual torture of high school, but still it was an unpleasant experience to have such an attractive young woman make no effort to hide the fact she couldn't stand you.

Miko tired him with her constant hostility.

So billionaire or not, Blackrock could appreciate this tough, military issue caffeine he swirled around in his cup. He couldn't have been the only one who knew they might all need something stiffer at any time.

He looked up at Megatron, the camera focus zoomed way out to show miles of desert around his tiny little plodding avatar. A small plume of dust in a sea of sand dunes and sun baked mud.

Dune after dune, wave after wave, with nothing else in sight, Jack Darby trudged on.

**ooo**

"How's it coming?" Jack asked.

"Jack, I had to improvise everything to just get Megatron in there. We should be thankfully it worked as well as it has. But flying? The lines of code look like spaghetti already. We just can't manage it." Rafael answered.

"So transforming is out of the question." Jack said.

"I would say so."

Jack sighed. "I guess I shouldn't press my luck. It wouldn't do to have the VR console fold me up like origami as it tries to translate flight." Jack replied and several of the program people overheard him and laughed. Rafael chuckled himself, watching Jack on his own monitor, and the secondary screen that showed several lines of code racing by in a horizontal line.

Real VR4 code didn't look like any thing out of the movies. It was just an endless line of numbers that had fifty thousand dollar software programs monitoring it for any minute changes. It was mostly a blur and if you stared at it, your eyes might catch a two, eight or four now and then.

You would think with all the cash stuffed into these computer consoles, they could have come up with better graphics to show the code, but really the world's best graphic engine was up on the screen. That's how you watched it. And while it allowed Jack to effect his virtual world in a direct manner from his crash couch, they didn't know how physical damage would actually translate back to his body. Or how his damaging the VR world around him would translate to Arcee.

And no one was in a hurry to find out.

As far as Rafael was concerned, he hoped they never did. But Jack was determined to take this all the way and so Rafael was determined to stick with him. But he felt bad for him. Jack, of all people, must really be getting frustrated by now.

"It doesn't work like that." Rafael tried to work up a grin, tapping away and pushing up his glasses. "Otherwise it might feel like someone went over and poured some sand down the back of your shorts." he hinted playfully.

Megatron stopped walking, the camera automatically zooming in down on him.

"What did you say?" He growled.

"Geez, Jack, it was just a joke."

"No, Raf, about down. Going down through the sand!" Jack's voice grew excited. "Can you modulate Megatron's cannon to have a lower yield and higher spread? Something like a repulse effect?"

"I guess so." Rafael sat up. "It just a matter of changing the signal strength from the weapons section. What do you have in mind?" he adjusted his headset.

"Blowing some of this shit out of the way and see if we can't find something underneath the sand."

Rafael was already tapping, sparing a glance at the older program experts sitting in a row off to his right. Most of them looked back at him and nodded enthusiastically and soon they all linked up their own stations to Rafael, bringing up the VR matrix and preparing for modifications. Nakamura was there, appraising himself of Rafael's screen, and then giving quiet orders to the rest. He made to look for Blackrock, but the man had quietly come up behind the computer station and was watching intently.

"Doctor, I'm showing a small flux on the light spectrum for weapons." one young man called out.

"We will adjust the values if it becomes an irritant to his vision, but for now, bring up the repulsor field that he requested." Nakamura turned back to look at Blackrock, who gave him a simple nod of approval.

"Jack's onto something." Rafael turned to smile at the billionaire himself.

"On to what?" One of the crew spoke up, a touch behind the rest. His strength lay in sensory pad cross-signals, not the actual coded VR world. "He's walking on like six billion cubic tons of sand. What are we gonna do? Give him a leaf blower?"

Soda-pop girl rolled her eyes and popped her gum.

"For cryin' out loud, Parker, use your brain rather than show it off. Has anyone stuck a measuring stick into it yet?"

Rafael grinned at her.

**ooo**

The sun beat down on Megatron as he slowly directed his right arm in a spreading arc, the end of his cannon pulsing and rippling in the air like ripples in a pond. Personally, he could never even begin to understand how it was being done...but it was being done. And here he was gently pushing the sand back in a wide, twenty yard circle. This was how to do it. No hacking and slashing and blasting. Just a nice gentle push on the world to make it give up it's secrets. He smiled, pleased with himself for having thought of it.

"Twenty yards minimum. But when you get to the edge, take a few moments to push the sides up and keep the whole at least that wide." Rafael said in his ear.

"Got it." Jack said, fighting the urge to drop down and dig with his hands. He kept at it, layering the sand as much as he could, forcing himself to walk back and forth and not aim his repulsor field straight down.

Slowly, a wide but slippery depression formed in the sand, not unlike the one that had built up around him during the dragonsnake attack. Now that he was onto a fresh idea, Jack had trouble staying on task. He wanted to push ahead.

"Look...as long as I am really breathing air back in Central, can't I just dive under all this sand like a swimmer?"

"That's not advised. It's not so much suffocating as orientation that we're worried about. Signal lock, too."

Megatron pursed his lips and kept at it.

"Is it getting any more shallow under you?" Raf asked.

"Raf, I don't wanna start stomping my feet."

"Right. What's your idea, Jack?"

Just at the moment, a few feet off to Jack's left, the repulsor field blew back the sand from an all to obvious metal surface. One second there was just pale waves of course grain sand, and then abruptly Jack was staring at a metal surface. The steel had definition and wasn't completely smooth, with recesses and raised details that made it look like a giant circuit board. Or the hull of some ancient, dark gray spaceship crashed in the desert. But Jack would have bet money the whole landscape looked like this.

"Layers." He said, controlling his excitement and carefully blowing away more sand.

"That bitch Airachnid is a clever old stick. Even dead. She booby-traps the first layer, and the hides the rest. Hides it under that six billion cubic tons one of you mentioned." He could hear in his own head more than one person was talking now back home. He didn't know who was around yet in Central, but he knew he wasn't going to wait for an audience.

"Makes sense." He went on in a low, controlled voice. "We could walk forever out here but all the while, layers. Layers of Arcee's mind buried and hidden. Right under our feet."

No one was stopping him. And he wouldn't have stopped anyway. And just when he began to worry he might have to actually cut through this steel layer beneath his feet, he miraculously cleared off an area that had an all to real access hatch, complete with a handle. Big enough for Megtron.

"Bingo. There's a door here." He smiled. He stopped blowing away the sand after a moment, and then, as he knew the other would eventually, Blackrock spoke into his ear.

"Hold up, for a second Jack."

"I'm not stopping now, Michael."

"I didn't ask you to. Let us catch up a little here and monitor things for a moment. We're on the right track and that might draw...attention."

Seeing the logic in this, Jack nooded and hunched down on Megatron's haunches, waiting and staring at the door so that they could all get a good look at it back home. He meant what he said. He wasn't going to wait. He knew back at base that other concerns had to be addressed and that all the Autobots were either occupied with some task or out on patrol. Everyone else on team Prime was in the cafeteria and they had just started to rotate out some technicians for bathroom breaks and snacks.

Jack however, was still ballooned up on the table, his entire biometric system at the mercy of the VR console. But it didn't worry him. He could go for hours more yet, even though at some point they would make him drink some Gatorade and probably want to hook him up to a catheter . Not a pleasant thought, and embarrassing to say the least. At the worst, maybe he could drop out of Arcee's mind for a stretch and a bathroom break.

As Jack was thinking about these all to human developments back at base, he reached out and brushed his fingers over the surface of the door. A human gesture really, a harmless reflex that his subconscious carried through, since nearly all the sand had been blown away from it.

But the moment his fingers touched the door handle, the desert responded.


	58. No Trespassing

**No Trespassing**

The wall of desert he had pushed back erupted in a blast of sand straight into Jack's face not more than five yards from where he had hunched down. It knocked him back onto his seat, blinding him, but not so much that he didn't see the huge shining black carapace of something roughly his own size coming right at him. A moment later and it slammed into him hard, bowling him over, even as he threw up his hands to ward it off.

It was chittering at him in the air and he caught of glimpse of many segmented arms under it's round, armored body. It was like a huge, black beetle. A scarab. And it wiggled and squirmed around fluidly as it crawled right up on top of him.

"Fuck!" Jack had just time to cry, shoving his forearm under it's bulbous head and narrowly avoiding the two huge pincers that snapped at his face. The many legs of the thing scratched and scraped over Megatrons smooth armor, trying to gain purchase. Hooked feet and sharp quills did just that, grasping corners and recesses on Megatrons body and then the horrible, oily thing pulled in several directions at once.

"Ahhh!" Jack cried out as the medical ICU screen back in Central, showing a VR outline of his human body, suddenly flashed red in half a different places.

"Omigawd! He's under attack!" Rafael cried, as all hell broke loose.

"Jesus! It hurt him!" the head-medical tech cried out a moment later, dropping his coffee as everyone began another mad scramble to help Jack.

"It's trying to pull him apart." A program expert gasped, wide-eyed, from across the room. Once again, controlled chaos reigned as Jack Darby found himself fighting for his life, flat on his back, with this new nightmare on top of him. Blackrock grimly and coolly watched it all, keeping an eye out for Miko and June as he held still and let Dr. Nakamura and his team do what they could for Jack.

The three teams were better prepared this time, yes, but when it was like this, unfortunately Jack Darby was on his own. That was something they were quickly coming to learn.

Rafael was saying something, and the girl-expert Amy was leaning over to look where he was pointing at his monitor. And at that moment, Jack managed to buy himself some time by flipping the insect monstrosity up over his head with a curse.

"Rafael?" Blackrock called out immediately, sparing a moment to look away from the fight.

"Movement! All over the place! All around him!" The younger man spun around, his eyes wide.

That settled it. It was time to address the problem again with extreme prejudice, consequences be damned.

Blackrock scooped up a headset.

"Jack, listen to me. You have to kill. Kill it, now. Do you hear me?" He said.

Up on the screen, Jack Darby had rolled over and gotten to his feet faster than the scarab had, but he hesitated on hearing Blackrock's command.

_No shit! _his brain screamed. And then the damned thing righted itself and was scuttling back at him in a blur of clicking mandibles and legs. It slammed into him again, and amazingly, he ended up literally having the bull by the horns as he held onto the two massive pincers of it's mouth with both hands. Denied, the thing pushed itself up on it's back legs and flexed, bending at the center of it's body and meaning to reaching out for him again. Jack obligingly kicked it solid, right in the guts. It wasn't immune to pain, and Megatron's spiked boot crunched into it's midsection most satisfyingly. Green goo flowed.

The thing keened in the air with a pain filled squeal, and then Jack, swearing and straining, put forth some of Megatron's inherent power. He bore down on it, pushing it back, at the same time he strained at the mandibles. Something had to give, and it wouldn't be the great Decepticon. With a horrible wet squish, Megatron's avatar ripped the scarabs head in half. It convulsed and blew gooey trails of green slime in all directions, flopping over onto it's back and shuddering like a dying spider.

But before Jack could breathe, another one came out of the sand behind and slammed into his back, even as he straightened up.

"Shit!" He cried, wrestling with it and punching up at it's head as it tried to bear him down by crawling right up onto his shoulders. He careened around in a circle, swearing like a trucker and trying to shake the second one off.

**ooo**

Blackrock stared at the screen, fighting off his own shock, as he and everyone else watched over fifty waves of sand well up in the surrounding desert and make for Jack's position. They had to be more of the giant beetles, one and all, and they had come from under the ground. From under the sand. They were twice as large as any dragonsnake and their wakes in the desert swam straight for Jack, who, as Megatron, struggled with the second one that had gotten through and attacked him.

One on one, dangerous as it was, Jack proved he could manage them. He had already triumphed over the first. But fifty? And he wasn't even aware the rest were coming. No time to think that these beetles made no distinction about who they faced. No time to pull Jack out. Just time enough to act and trust to luck.

"Jack, go through the door! Get that thing off you and go for the door! There's no _time!_" Blackrock called out. And that was that. Jack had to fight and he had to win, or once again they all faced the prospect of watching him be ripped apart. And seeing as how they now had all to _real _proof that Jack could feel and suffer pain, the prospects of 'Megatrons' death inside the VR matrix left them all feeling cold.

A few people cried out in horror, but all they could do was watch.

**ooo**

With a curse, Jack slammed the second beetle down off his back, right onto the steel landscape, and then he kicked it for good measure. But the wretched thing still managed to catch his leg and grasp it with as many claws as it could, anchoring him and throwing him dangerously off balance. Jack hopped, almost comically, on one foot for a moment so that he wouldn't topple over.

"You ugly fucker!" He shouted. "Let go!"

This was no clean fight. There was no special move, skill, counter-attack or pregnant pause in the action before a heroic slash of speed left the monster's head spinning in the dust. This was nothing like the animated action shows from Japan that Miko had watched as a girl.

This was life and death, and it was dirty and mean.

Jack Darby slammed his open fingers down into the things face, got a grip, and tore out one of it's eye stalks. The thing let him go with a screech of surprise and pain and then Jack slashed Megatron's great warblade across it's head, cutting it ungraciously in half and splashing it's brains across the ground.

"_Run,_ gawdamn you!" Blackrock's voice cut through the red haze of battle in Jack's head.

Around him, the sand was convulsing. The desert was upon him. Jack felt his spine crawl, now that his senses told him what was coming. It was even more horrifying in that whatever it was, it had made Blackrock swear for the first time ever since Jack had met him.

Like a pack of killer whales, the lines of the beetles drew straight for him. He couldn't see them, but he _felt_ them coming.

"Go through the door!" More than one person cried in his ear.

Jack look around in a frenzy, spotted the access door and took two strides before he dove, coming down hard and grasping the handle all in one leap. If it was locked, he was doomed, but the handle turned smoothly. He flung the door open just far enough, that he literally shoved Megatron's body inside, squirming through the opening even as he felt new claws scrape the back of his boots.

It was pitched black ahead of him, but he didn't care. Behind him he could hear the hissing rush of sand filling in the clearing he had made as the unseen tide of beetles surged forward and buried the door in a wave of sand and black chittering bodies. The great heavy door slammed shut behind him just in time and all sound was cut off as he was sealed in.

For better or for worse, the desert had swallowed Jack Darby after all.

**ooo**

All anyone could hear was Jack breathing hard up on the huge black screen. There were some vague shapes showing through, but what light there was was overpowered by the bank of lights in Central Command.

"Clean that up." Blackrock said. "Get him some better light, please. And see if we can't turn down the lights in here." Technicians scrambled, Dr. Nakamura giving his ever present instructions or pointing curtly.

"Trouble with the light again, Doctor!" the one young expert called out from his station and Nakamura went over to work with him personally.

"Jack are you all right?" Rafael asked, peering up at the dark screen. There was a strange creaking sound. Steel on steel, then all was still.

**ooo**

Jack finished cranking the escape wheel handle and paused again to catch his breath. He didn't know it, but he could see more than the team back at the base could. As it was, there was hardly any light to go by here at all. And really all there was was the slight illumination from Megatron's own body. He had been surprised to find that the door had opened into a corridor like that of a battleship, complete with a wheel to seal it shut on the other side.

He sure didn't waste anytime doing so and he braced himself for a full frontal attack on the door next. But there was nothing. In fact, there was nothing at all. No scratching or clawing or noise of any kind from the other side. He frowned and even pressed his ear against the steel for a moment. He heard only silence. It was eerie.

"Great." he sighed, slumping back.

"Jack, are you okay?" Rafael asked again.

"I'm all right." He answered finally, catching his breath.

"Are you in pain? Are you hurt?"

"I feel...I feel okay."

"That was close." Rafael said with a puff of pent up tension.

"Tell me about it." he shook his head. "I guess someone doesn't want me going this way. Where am I, Raf?"

"I can't tell. We're not getting a very good picture. Hold on a second."

Jack grimaced. "Black as pitch in here." he mumbled as he held still. Still no sound from the other side of the door. He took a better look around and cleared his throat.

"I...I don't know if you can see it, but I'm in some kind of corridor. There's decking here. And an escape wheel. I've cranked it down tight." He looked over his shoulder down the black hallway, trying to get his bearings. "Is there any pursuit?"

"Nothing. We can only get reading from around you personally. When you sealed the door, you might have cut off that part of the VR matrix." Rafael answered. Jack could hear him tapping away at his keyboard in his ear.

"No, it's more than that. There's nothing at all. They're not attacking the door. And I can't hear a thing."

"Then it might be a good idea to put some distance between you and them." Rafael replied. Jack didn't overlook the ominous meaning of his friend's suggestion.

"Right. The gravity is different here. I thought I would fall straight down a hole or something, but it's shifted."

"Are you disorientated?"

"Not really."

"Doctor Nakamura is working on getting you some light. He says you should move away from the door, too."

"Ok." Jack said, resting for a second longer before finally standing up and turning around. He started feeling his way down the hall. Megatron's massive armored form was a tight fit, but thankfully the world around him seemed to be sized for Transformers and who could say if this was Arcee's mind or Airachnid's doing.

The feeling of being underground now was quickly replaced by feeling he was deep down inside a spaceship. Or some kind of subterranean complex. The sound was muffled and he felt a sense of a vast construct all around him. There was so much more to the area he was passing through. Because as he walked, he would come across darker openings to his left and right that must have branched off into other side tunnels. But more from a practical sense than anything else, Jack kept going in a straight line.

The ground suddenly shifted. Like a ripple in the air, felt more than seen. Nothing in so much like another trap was being sprung, but as if the world around him suddenly realigned itself some more. His slight sense of disorientation cleared up completely and now he truly felt like he was facing the right way up.

"Was that you guys?" he asked tentatively.

"What was what?" Rafael asked. Jack kept silent. He didn't really know why. Perhaps a tiny romantic sense of him felt that in this deeper world, down inside Arcee's mind, maybe there was more than one being growing aware of his presence. Maybe it was Arcee. Maybe she was helping.

Helping _Megatron_?

Maybe she knew it wasn't Megatron.

But Jack shook his head clear. This was no time to start convincing himself of things. He was lucky nothing was chewing it's way through the door behind him. Lucky that nothing was challenging him in here. He had to stay focused. Must have been the rush of battle and having narrowly escaped Airachnid's devices again.

"How are you doing, Jack?" Blackrock's voice said, his timing a surprisingly reassuring coincidence in Jack's ear. Jack still jumped a little though and then he let out a sigh. The feeling in here was a oppressive.

"Better. It feels like things ironed out in here just now. Are there any signs of pursuit yet?"

"Not that we can tell. But don't go in too deep. They're might be more traps."

"I don't think they expected me to go this way."

"Still, wherever you happen to be now, give it another fifty yards and then let us catch up if you can."

"Right. How's Arcee doing?"

"No change."

"How about that light?"

"Working on it."

Megatron/Jack kept feeling his way along, working through tight spots and ducking through other bulkhead doors.

"Why do I get the feeling you have something else to tell me, though?" Jack asked after another minute. Sure enough, Blackrock was still online.

"Quite observant of you. You may not be feeling it, but we're checking out your body right now."

"_Jesus_. Am I ok?"

"Don't worry. You're doing fine."

"Then why do you seem to be..."

"Ok, look..." Blackrock cut off him. "We've got a new worry. Jack, since you've connected to Arcee we've been dealing more with what could potentially happen than we have making sure what we _did_ know still worked. The weapons should have been a tip off when they failed on you geared out in human form."

Inside the matrix, picking his way down the black tunnel, Jack picked a spot to halt and knelt down on one knee.

"And now?" He prompted, holding onto the wall in the dark with one hand.

Blackrock sighed over the link. "What with that last attack, and such fast paced events taking place, it's just been overlooked. And we should have thought of it when you had three hours to walk around in the desert. But the fact is we never tested to see if we could actually bring you out. Or for that matter, to see if we could establish a save point beacon for when we go back _in_."

Jack felt his stomach turn over a bit.

"I see."

"It suddenly became obvious when you were forced underground just now."

"Oh, man. I was just thinking about things like bathroom breaks when those things attacked." Jack made a face, looking left and right and seeing nothing but blackness. He didn't feel angry with anyone but himself, but it served to show him that even the sharpest minds could overlook the obvious. The tests in Bumblebee's mind may not have been the best idea. It lulled them into a false sense of control. He would remember that if he got out of here.

The billionaire continued. "Well now is as good a time as any to find out. That and you have taken some bruising on a few tendons. We're due for a break, wouldn't you say?" the enigmatic man finished lightly.

"I'm gonna be sore in the morning." Jack tried to sound brave as he replied, but frankly, if he had gone in to far and there was no way to safely bring him out, then he was faced with the reality he might be in here for the long haul. But that wasn't half as bad as the feeling that he may not be able to go back the way he had come. What was waiting for him? A couple hundred Volkswagen beetles eager to rip him apart?

"So do I try and get back _out_ of here, or what? Back out onto the sand?"

"No. No, we have a strong signal lock right where you are. We're gonna try it from there." Blackrock replied.

Jack waited, straining his ears and his eyes.

"Three minutes on the recall." Blackrock himself called the play by play.

"Why do I get the feeling the beetles are slowly surrounding me here by means of the other hallways?" Jack spoke to the dark.

"Can you hear anything?" Blackrock asked.

"No. But it's heavy in here."

"You're not claustrophobic, are you?"

"No."

"What about that time you got stuck in a cement culvert when you were eight?" the billionaire asked.

"How do you know about that?" Jack snorted.

"I know it cost the city fourteen hundred dollars to replace it once they broke it to yank you out." Blackrock's voice answered.

"For Christ's sake, why the hell are we talking about this now?" Jack frowned.

"To distract you." Blackrock answered with a grin in his tone. "Thirty seconds left. See? That wasn't so bad."

Jack turned back to his left and squinted some.

"Hold on a second, I see something up ahead." he said.

"Jack..." Blackrock warned.

"It's light. A greenish light. A glow of some kind." Jack stood back up in the corridor.

"All the more reason to get you _out_ of there." Blackrock said with an edge in his voice. "Now."

"You want to drop me back in the middle of something new?" Jack answered. "Something waiting for me? I'm going to make sure the save point is clear." he said. He could feel Blackrock thinking that one over, and unasked for, he started down the hallway anyway.

**ooo**

Yes, there was a definite green glow and it was coming from around the first bend in the hallway. The first one Jack had come across. It curved off to the right. And as he drew closer he could see it reflecting on the side of the wall, showing pitted bulkheads spotted with rust and sagging, lifeless power cables.

Gently, he reached out and flaked some of the rust off with one finger, thoughtful, as everyone back in Central Command looked on.

It was the first signs he had seen, in this dark passage, that the steel world around him was run down and corroded. Ancient? Abandoned? Or was it more likely the VR translation of the sick mind in need of repair he was diving into?

Jack steeled himself and slowly inched his way farther around the corner.

The hallway opened up on a large room half as long as it was tall. At first it looked like a gallery of some kind, with two more stories overhead looking down into a central lobby. But as Jack took note of the dark openings of several doors on each tier, it reminded him more of a prison block. A deep green mist swirled around the bottom floor, wafting in the air, and it glowed with a sickly light of it's own, throwing the upper half of the room into shadow.

With his eyes adjusting to what light there was, Jack stepped slowly into the room, Megatron's great warblade quietly sliding out and into place.

Now he could in fact see bars on some of the openings. It was a holding block of some kind, and as he slowly paced into the room, at the ready, he kept trying to look in all directions at once.

There was some soft chatter in his ear, back from Central, but Jack knew they could see what he was seeing now and they were keeping quiet.

The atmosphere was oppressive and heavy and held a definite feeling that he was being watched. Something at the very periphery of his vision. Something that stayed just out of sight and focus, dissipating everytime Jack turned to follow some shifting shadow that caught his eye.

He said nothing, feeling his way along slowly on foot and telling himself his real lungs weren't breathing this green mist. But then, it was a fact now that this world could hurt him. Could it poison him too? He looked down at it as it swirled around Megatron's boots, half expecting it to be corrosive and so begin to burn him. But it just rolled lazily along the ground, insubstantial and phosphorescent.

That's when he realized a pair of yellow eyes were watching him from low to the ground. From one of the openings, behind a set of thick corroded bars.

"Jesus!" Jack hissed, his heart rate spiking as he jumped back and brought up Megatron's blade. More than one voice over the link back in Central gave a cry of alarm and surprise.

But the eyes didn't move. They just blinked slowly. And Jack realized someone was watching him from inside one of the prison cells. Someone laying on the floor, propped up and staring.

A prisoner.

He came over to the cell, wary of any trap, and gave the bars a quick once over before he finally leaned in for a look at the occupant.

"Who are you?" A dry old voice croaked up at him and Jack realized he was looking at an ancient and decrepit old bot lying on the floor of the cell. He had his back against the wall, with one hand holding onto the bars, and he was in such a sorry state of repair and corrosion it was amazing he was functioning at all.

Jack bent at the waist, hands on his knees, and wondered what he should do.

"I'm nobody." He answered after a moment's thought. He kept his real name to himself for the moment, although it was pretty obvious who he _appeared_ to be.

"I don't know you." the old bot coughed anyway, his body wracking with deep chokes. He got control of himself and made to look up again, but not before Jack spotted the ancient and paint flaked symbol of an Autobot on his chest.

Jack slapped Megatron's hand over his own chest, quickly covering the Decepticon leaders symbol lest the old one spot it. Luckily, he didn't seem to recognize Megatron personally.

"Are you a Con?" The old timer did ask a moment later, his yellow and cracked lenses whirring softly a little as he tried to focus.

"I'm not your enemy." Jack replied carefully. "You're an Autobot." He noted, hoping the old one would talk. "Who are you? Why are you here? What's going on in this place?"

"Fought back. Fought back and was put here." The old one wheezed. "You're a tough one. You don't have any rust. Will you fight with us?"

"Fight who?"

"Fight them that need fighting. Gotta fight back. Can't just do nothing." More coughing. Even as he watched, to his amazement, the old one was literally flaking away. What Jack took to be his legs were just so much piles of rust in the outline of legs. And now it was obvious that the green mist was eating the Autobot alive. He was crumbling even as he spoke, his hand and arm turned to brown dust and fell away from the bars. The old Autobot groaned. Something in the mist was speeding up the process.

Jack grew desperate, ignoring the conversation starting up in his ear from back home. He had a hundred questions to ask all of a sudden and less than a handful of seconds to ask them.

"Where's Arcee!?" He cried, dropping his hand and coming forward, gripping the bars instead. "What are you fighting!?"

The old yellow eyes looked up at him, the glass of their lenses dissolving even as the interior steel skull worked it's way through the old one's armor. He formed two perfect words before he crumbled into nothing but flakes of rust.

"Help me." He said.

And he said it in Arcee's voice.

_**I hope everyone is enjoying Arcee and Jack's ongoing story and the direction it has taken. Hope it makes for a good suspenseful read! Please leave a review and share your feedback, it's all welcome. :) Much more to come involving everyone, and even a few surprises. Stay tuned! - Prander**_


	59. Suspicions

**Suspicions**

Arcee's rich voice had stunned them all to complete silence. To a person, the people in Central stopped what they were doing and just stared at the screen. And inside Arcee's own mind, her words struck Jack like a physical blow. It was the kind of moment that you truly can't believe you just witnessed or heard what you had, and your mind has to catch up to your body and tell you that it had indeed been real. That you hadn't been mistaken. That unexpectedly, like a miracle, all your hope, faith, worry and desire were not in vain.

Because until now, there had only ever been assumptions and hypothesis to tell them that Arcee was actually alive. It had been easy to forget, in all these weeks, that there was never any real concrete proof.

Since that fateful night Rafael had discovered the trap in Arcee's mind, Jack's friends and family had done all they could to bolster his waning hope that Arcee could be saved. Time and again they pointed out that the very fact there _was _a trap, proved that there was someone being kept prisoner. That Arcee's body had not died. That had her spark had not passed on. That she was not even in stasis lock, but held prisoner in a deathless sleep she couldn't wake from.

And, most importantly of all, that Airachnid herself had even mocked Jack with clues to how she had conquered and captured Arcee and left her in a comatose state inside her own mind.

Then, in their final showdown, their last battle of wits, Jack himself had trumped the black snake once last time in how he had tricked Airachnid into thinking Arcee actually _had d_ied. And Airachnid, unknowingly, had all but confirmed Arcee's chance for rescue in how she then gloated over her rival's death. At that, Jack knew Arcee was in there, waiting for him to find her.

That was why he had finally destroyed Airachnid. He had learned all that he was going to. And if he had spared her, he knew she would only twist the knife in the wound with lies and false leads while continuing to be a threat they could never trust. Even Optimus had left her to her fate.

Enter Michael Blackrock and the CIA.

And ever since that day, a certain calmness had come over Jack in that he finally allowed he had done all he could. And now he needed help, _welcomed_ help, in rescuing Arcee from the prison of her mind. But still, as before...there had never been any real proof, _tangible_ proof, that Arcee was still there.

Her voice changed all that in a single heartbeat.

Jack held still for several long moments, and Michael Blackrock held still as well, never taking his eyes from the younger man up on the screen, even though he was cloaked in Megatron's great avatar. The technicians and team members around Blackrock were frozen in place and over the hum of machines and banks of computers, you could have heard a pin drop.

The vindication of all your hopes can be such a powerful moment, that it would have dropped most people to their knees in a rush of relief.

Jack Darby slowly straightened _up, _and said nothing, his hands still around the bars of the dead Autobot's holding cell. His heart rate came up, fast, from over at the medical console and the members of the medical team looked down in surprise as the needles on his biometric read-out began to quiver.

People began talking.

"Jack don't do it!" Blackrock said quickly, a single raised hand freezing everyone anew and holding them in check around him. Dr. Nakamura raised his hands as well, one clutching a clipboard, helping to restrain the tension in the room. Aside from Blackrock, perhaps only he and Rafael understood what a dangerous moment this was.

"Don't do it." Blackrock said again. "Remember where you are."

Jack was breathing hard. They could hear him on the screen and hear it from his body over on the crash couch, but the words reached him almost immediately and just as quickly as it welled up, his rage to tear the place apart faded away and he let go of the bars.

"Yeah." He croaked, clearing his throat. "Yeah, okay." he said more strongly.

Blackrock turned to his team.

"Alright, get him out of there. That's enough for today." And he straightened up to let his people guide Jack to a safe point. He watched Megatron finish crossing the room and head down another corridor, the mist swirling around behind him. Eventually they settled on a small service room that was dusty, but in better shape and well lit. And twenty minutes later, Jack Darby was brought out of the program.

**ooo**

It wasn't until the dive team's signal integrity registered zero percent that Blackrock breathed a sigh of relief. So now they knew they could bring Jack out safely and establish a save point for the next dive, but all data gathering aside, they had pushed their luck enough for one day.

There were some mistakes, omissions and over-sights here that needed addressing and on top of all that, Blackrock felt everyone's nerves had taken enough of a hit.

He assumed he was going to have his work cut out for him after bringing Jack out. For one, the man might come down off the couch more determined than ever and how well would it sit to try and suggest to him things like caution, temperance and patience? He imagined Jack had had a belly full of that after a whole month's preparation. And even though Jack was a pretty steady young man, his first words from Arcee since that fated night were bound to hit him hard. Blackrock had feared he might become reckless. Angry. A problem.

But thankfully it didn't turn out that way. Jack wasn't out of the couch for more than a minute when June and Miko returned with Ratchet to Central Command.

That was a piece of luck, for if the two women had been here to witness the last half hour, Blackrock really _would_ have had his hands full. As it was, they were there to soften the worst of the news, immediately taking Jack into their care and fussing over him. Well, at least his mother did, as she informed herself of his medical read-out and stayed with him as the technicians checked him over. Miko stood a little apart, looking like she didn't know what to do with herself, and Blackrock quietly observed them all.

As the teams behind him shut things down, Blackrock chose his moment and walked over to the members of team Prime.

"I think..." he said, catching their collective attention. "...that the best thing to do now would be to get something to eat." He smiled disarmingly. "We'll talk later." He said, as Jack seemed to want to work up something to say from his chair.

"I agree." June said. "Come on, Jack. Let's just step away for awhile. You need to walk around a bit, too." She said. Jack's eyes looked stormy, but then he slumped a fraction and just nodded. As they walked out of the room, Blackrock saw that he was looking over towards Arcee's screened off table. But he did keep walking.

Blackrock watched them go, mother and son, with Miko trailing behind them a step or two, and he let out a small sigh of relief. He turned to Ratchet, who looked down at Blackrock with a neutral stare.

"I would..." Blackrock paused. "I guess I would like your take on this, chief medical officer." He finished lamely. Not even Blackrock was immune to being in the presence of a Transformer. Not this close and especially not under these circumstances. He had had only a month to get used to it and it still wasn't easy.

"Disturbing." Was all Ratchet would allow and Blackrock felt a keen desire to have Optimus there just then. But in the interest of not distracting Jack, Optimus had postponed Autobot operations until later in the evening. And when they had a window where there was no activity, he and most of the others had driven out on their respective patrols. They didn't bridge out as a precaution to the working mechanics of the VR console, and it would be some time before they returned by road.

The towering white and orange-red Autobot surgeon just turned back to look over at Arcee and he rubbed his chin, brooding over this new turn of events. He wasn't exactly forthcoming like this. He had been a tremendous help in other venues but he seemed to have little imagination for appraising deeper meaning. Or maybe it was a reluctant to speak to the newcomers about such a personal matter.

"Well...I have to attend to Arcee and then check on the others." The old medic said all at once.

"If you like, I can forward the data from the Tempest signal so that you may assess her condition." Blackrock offered.

Ratchet held up a hand.

"As you will, Michael Blackrock. But I will examine her physically as well." And at that, he walked away with a heavy tread of armored boots. Blackrock sighed again and turned back to his people. They were all gathering now in a rather loose formation, awaiting his word, and the majority of them were headed to the conference room/storage bay Blackrock Industries had been gifted at the base. There were just as many VR4 terminals and consoles there as well, set up in an exact approximation of the computers here in Central. There would be a massive debriefing about everything that had taken place here and some of the younger ones were eager to get to it.

Blackrock, with little patience for standing on ceremony, was already complying a list of things to bring to their attention later.

"Good work people. We have much to cover, but take some downtime. Grab some food yourselves or whatever you need. We'll adjourn in forty minutes. That's all."

They filed past him, falling into a loose line of white lab coats that trailed out of Central Command towards the cafeteria. A few of them nodded to him respectfully, but many of them already had their heads together in groups of two or three. It was going to be a busy night.

But if Blackrock knew his trade, he was fairly certain that June would hover around Jack for the next hour and would probably see to it that he had some dinner back in his room. No one would be bothering him in the cafeteria and maybe he could get some sleep. They didn't need him for the data-debriefing. They would advise him come the morning when they tried dive number two.

And speaking of someone he _did_ expect to be at the data-debriefing, Blackrock looked around and sure enough, Rafael was still at his terminal. He wasn't falling in with the others and he was hunched over his screen. Blackrock went over to him

"Mr. Esquivel, you're quite a trooper. Already at work? Or chasing down a few last minute ideas?"

Rafael turned to him, blinking at Blackrock like he was seeing him for the first time.

"Huh?" He asked.

"The debriefing. The others will be eating before we begin. You should too. Or would you like to check on Jack?"

"No, I don't think...I just need too...I..." he looked back at his screen. "I don't know what to do." He murmured, turning away and looking over at Ratchet, who was pointedly waiting for Central to clear out before he attended to Arcee. Blackrock had already looked at Rafael's screen, but there was little there except for some hasty notes. Then he glanced up to where Rafael was staring, and took a step closer to his chair.

"Is this one of those moments where something's come to you? If so, tell me now."

Rafael looked back at him and pushed his glasses up.

"No, it's not that...it's...well...maybe."

"Maybe?" Blackrock's eyebrows went up.

"Not maybe, this is all just a lot to take in." Rafael sighed.

Blackrock smiled, reminding himself that Rafael did not have the schooling or experience of the experts around him. He was after all nearly ten years younger than the youngest of _them_. And he had a foot in both worlds. Sometimes you had to remember he had a personal stake in all this. But when it came to the rest, he had just been tossed right into the salad.

"It's a lot to take in, I admit." Blackrock agreed.

"Have you thought about what she said? Help me?" Rafael looked up at him again with a frown.

Blackrock took a deep breath and let it out slow.

"In a way, I would take it as a good sign. Despite how it hit your friend. We'll see, but I feel that Arcee's in there and it's up to us to get her out."

"I guess."

"That being said, we'll appreciate your insight at the debriefing." Blackrock hinted. "But if you want to, take some time. Go see Jack." He patted Rafael once on the shoulder. "And get something to eat, _okay_?"

Rafael smiled but he looked tired and distracted.

"Okay."

"And Raf...if you do think of anything, you come and get me."

The younger boy looked up again. "I will."

**ooo**

Rafael watched him go, waiting until everyone had left Central. He watched Ratchet then, stepping behind the screens and attending to Arcee recumbent form. For the moment, he seemed to have overlooked Rafael.

Well, that was fine.

Rafael reached under his terminal and slipped out his laptop. It only took a second to hook in, and then, nervous as a field mouse, he routed his way into the main VR console. Thirty seconds after that, he dumped the Tempest signal protocol and hard line data into his hard drive. Then he slapped the lid shut and stood up.

He padded quickly across the floor on his sneakers, clutching his laptop like a football under his arm and headed for his room. Ratchet didn't even see him go. Sometimes it was easy to overlook Rafael.

And overlooking things was exactly what he was worried about.

**ooo**

It took Rafael five hours. Five hours of code. He didn't stop once he was back in his room, fielding any inquiries just from his phone. From Blackrock to Miko and even Bumblebee, he passed on it all. And finally they must have allowed that Rafael was played out and just wanted some time alone. Then it grew late enough to take care of the rest, as things began to wind down for the night. He wouldn't be bothered anytime soon.

And that's exactly what he needed.

What he was doing was not an easy thing. He had his moments, but he was not a programmer and twice he realized he was over-working it and could have used a batch command for a more efficient shortcut. But he kept at it, key after key after key and line after line after line.

Hunched over on his bed he hardly noticed that his back hurt or that his stomach was empty. And he had stopped to go the bathroom only twice, but then, promptly forgetting to even wash his hands, he came right back to his laptop and dove in.

Water did finally win out though, and as he chugged a big glass of it in the small kitchen area of his room, he was still seeing his work in his head, his eyes thoughtful and drawn. Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, and snatching up a pack of pop tarts, he was right back at the computer, desperate to get down what he needed to before he lost his train of thought.

Finally, after another hour and a lap full of crumbs, some time after one in the morning, he felt he was closing in on it and his work slowed. A while ago, realizing he was hot, he had shed his sweater and even had to fetch a little oscillating fan for both him and his warm laptop. But he doggedly pushed on.

Vaguely he supposed he might catch hell for this, copying the Tempest protocol and taking it back to his room and all. But he couldn't really think how he was breaking any rules. Except for maybe Blackrock's request that Rafael immediately bring to attention anything else that came to him.

But that was just it! He didn't knowanything yet. Or even if there was anything to know. It was hunch, just a hunch. So if he was going to catch hell it would probably be from working alone, because he hadn't wanted to take this to the debriefing. He felt that not even they would have understood Rafael's compulsion. And it would have been chaos to explain it to them and have everyone jump all over what he was trying to do.

Better to work alone. So, there he was, working hard and hoping the whole time he was wrong. Wrong about his hunch, anyway.

Finally he had knocked something up and was ready to try it. Another thing that was important was that he was isolated from the main network here at the base. The first thing he had done was disconnect his wireless, and that was the trick to the whole business.

A hunch. An isolated system. And one desperate little test.

Taking off his glasses and rubbing his face, Rafael got down to the floor on unsteady feet and worked out the kinks in his back. He had been sitting on his bed for hours while he worked on this and he brushed the pop tart crumbs off his pants absentmindedly.

Then, pushing his glasses back on, he pulled his laptop over to the edge of the bed, mentally crossed his fingers, and hit _Enter_.

Three other windows opened up, a forth DOS based emulator rolling with lines of code and complying nicely. Maybe it could have been a little faster, but he had wanted to be thorough. He even aimed the fan at the case of his laptop to cool it.

_Baby, don't fail me know._

Rafael straightened up, knowing he had another hour to wait, and he started wringing his hands well in advance.

He wished for all the world that he would be wrong.


	60. Frantic

**Frantic**

The longer Rafael waited, the more it all made sense. Once he had got it right in the computer, he found he finally had time to think it all over in his head. And what had seemed like a vague hunch at first began to coalesce into something dark and terrifying.

_What was that the old axiom? Something about something being so obvious you don't see it?_

He shook his head, to flustered to find the right words, looking over at his laptop for the umpteenth time as it chewed through the data.

He was going back and forth at the foot of his bed, pacing as anyone would have done when waiting for results they dreaded. The kind of moment where you're taking a gamble on something but the odds are against you. And while your instincts tell you that you're in trouble, you keep desperately hoping for some other outcome as you roll the dice.

"Oh, man." He said out loud, still wringing his hands. "I don't wanna be right."

But it had started with what Blackrock had said. Nothing of note, really. Just part of a sentence. A scrap. That had somehow acted like a catalyst in Rafael's brain.

_We have much to cover, but take some down time._

That's what he said. That's when Rafael had felt sick.

_We have much to cover, but take some down time._

**ooo**

Last year, in a half hearted attempt to appear normal at school, Rafael had once worked up the courage to go to the movies with Debbie Haller. She was a nice girl, two inches taller than Rafael, from the book club at school. And he had discovered that they liked the same kind of movies almost by accident. But after going to the theater twice, they began to watch movies together at home. Either her house or his. And that had been more out of comfort than any level of growing intimacy between them because they were both shy of being seen in public on a date.

Those movie nights had been some pleasant times then, until Debbie had surprised him one night by bringing over A Beautiful Mind with Russel Crowe, a movie that Rafael pointedly avoided. That had been a long two hours, as he had to make believe he had never seen it before. But he had. And that movie bothered him. Not so much that Rafael feared he had any such type of mental disorder, but with how he identified with the main character more than kids his own age. Not something he wanted to be reminded of when he was sitting next to a pretty girl like Debbie. He had begun to want to share stuff with her, and that movie left him feeling certain she wouldn't understand one his most private secrets.

And what horrible secret would that be?

Sometime he could see solutions. Just like the main character. But it wasn't like you would expect. Rafael didn't have walls covered in clippings and frantic calculations, but he _did_ have something similar. Something a little more ethereal and harder to pin down.

Because given a certain set of circumstances, Rafael had a tendency to know something in his subconscious before his brain knew that he knew it. It was hard for him to explain. Over the years he had come to recognize it in himself and how it made him feel, so he had grown pretty certain when such a time was upon him.

And when he was like this, it was like having an infusion of details in his subconscious run over into his cognitive reasoning. A deadlock of knowing that he knew something, but he had no idea what it was he knew. And this feeling kept him in it's grip until he finally sorted it all out. But where he differed from the movie was that it was never an easy process. It didn't just click from staring at a wall of numbers or seeing patterns in the chaos. It was elusive and disturbing and never an easy thing to manage.

For one, when it was about people and _not_ a simple matter of data, like when he had built his own microwave oven when he was twelve, it was always worse. People brought a whole new dimension of worry and concern to his mind, which fueled his anxiety. And anxiety was the second thing that made it hard for him, because the more worried he felt, the more agitated he was. And if he didn't manage to get his mind right fast enough, he could lose it altogether as things just folded back on themselves and stopped making sense.

So, locking himself away for maximum privacy was something he had come to practice.

Only then could he let himself sink into his intellect and reasoning to the point it was almost like a trance. He could just shake his mind free of all other worldly concerns and let his focus and concentration wash through him in total. Disconnected from everyday things around him, but running at a hyper functioning of all the facts and data and cross comparison until suddenly he _could_ pull his pad and pencil over and just scribble down a solution. In this case, it had been his laptop and five hours of code.

He gave the screen another glance and went right back to pacing.

It had started like a tickle, back when Jack had spent three hours walking around in the desert of Arcee's mind. Rafael had been kept busy working on the Megatron avatar but he was sure that was when he had started to feel it. Then Jack himself had a breakthrough on what to try next, and Rafael had been kept so busy after _that_, the feeling hadn't come back to him until Jack was actually out of the couch and everyone else was shutting down operations for the day. By that time, what with all that had happened, the feeling had grown even worse. A subconscious niggling that they were missing something. Something obvious.

At first he thought it was the stupendous oversight of the safety checks. How they hadn't bothered to see if they could even bring Jack _out_. And that they had only thought of it once Jack was to far _in_. But that wasn't it. In fact, that only served to make Rafael feel worse. It had some correlation to how he was feeling, cementing the belief that they were overlooking something. Something_ terribly_ obvious. Something important.

It _did_ come to him, after a fashion, and it had been this that had fueled his five hour torture of setting up a new program to make sure.

That would be the proof he would need. Otherwise he might as well just run out of his room shouting that the sky was falling.

But there was a chance, a slim chance, he was flat out wrong.

_Let me be wrong. Please!_

As always happens, Rafael, in waiting for his laptop to finish what it was doing, was so lost in his thoughts that he failed to notice when it was actually done. But then he did spot the flashing cursor, at the very end of a bunch of compiled conclusions.

And coming over he grabbed the laptop and read through it all quickly.

"Oh, no!" He cried.

_He hadn't been wrong._

**ooo**

Rafael Esquivel, the only person to be seen that late at night in the base, ran down the hallway in his stocking feet faster than he ever had before. He nearly slipped more than once, pinwheeling his arms around with a paper printout clutched in his fist. It only added to the frantic nature of his run.

And as he ran, he felt goose pimples crawl all over him. He was horrified, mortified and terrified. Everything that _she_ could ever have relished.

He was so upset in fact, that as he headed for Jack's room, Rafael imagined he could hear a ghostly laughter chase him down the hall. Following him. Mocking him. Cold and wicked. Just at the limit of his vision, coming from the shadows in the base.

At least, he_ thought_ he imagined it.

**ooo**

"Jack!" Rafael hammered on his door with such fury he didn't even notice it hurt his hand. Nor did he think he was probably scaring Jack shitless out of dead sleep, because he was acting like the base was on fire, such was his urgency.

Sure enough, Jack ripped open the door, his eyes wild and clad in nothing but a fresh pair of military issue boxers. One blanket was wrapped around his foot and he had dark circles under both eyes, so tired and stunned did he appear. Earlier, Jack had been okay until he had heard Arcee's voice. And that had done more to zap his energy than any amount of hours in the VR4. Plus, he had had to endure two hours of being poked and prodded in medical, and then, exhausted and forlorn, he had simply walked out and headed for his room. No one had tried to stop him. And Rafael couldn't have been made to bother him like this for anything in the world. Unless it was something like he had on his paper.

"What is it!?" Jack cried, disheveled, his hair a mess. "What's wrong!?" He coughed suddenly, looking over Rafael's head, and down the short hallway back to the central corridor. He half expected two see Blackrock and everyone else there, caught up in some emergency about Arcee.

"Raf?" He looked down, puzzled and barely conscious.

Rafael barreled right on in, both hands up and bodily pushing his friend back into the room. He hit the lights and Jack hissed, raising his arm over his eyes.

"Raf, what are you doing?" Jack mumbled as he backed up, trying to wake up at the same time he struggled with kicking his blanket off from around his foot. Rafael turned and slammed the door and then he ran over to the small kitchen area and snatched up a glass.

He filled it with water and came running back and Jack saw that he clutched some kind of paper in his hand.

"Jack you gotta wake up. You gotta listen to me." Rafael said breathlessly. He grabbed Jack by the arm and guided him over to a chair, holding out the glass. If these had been two normal young men, worrying about girlfriends and part time jobs, Jack might have reacted differently. Four years ago he might have done what most people do, when their brains convince them that there's nothing that can't wait until morning. And the wisest decision in the universe at that moment would be to crawl back in bed. He might have even done so, leaving Rafael hopping with anxiety and chattering away.

But Dorothy wasn't in Kansas anymore, and Rafael was one of a group of people that Jack knew he had better listen to when they said something was wrong. He practically fell into the chair, blinking, his eyes dilated and spacey, staring at Rafael half awake, but fighting to come around.

"What's wrong?" He asked again, rubbing his eyes.

Rafael shoved the glass of water into Jack's hand, half tempted to sling it into his face. Instead he backed up, his face pale, taking his paper with both hands.

"Jack, we're in trouble. I think Arcee's in trouble. Big trouble! You've got to trust me."

"What!? Arcee!?" Jack stammered, reaching down to pull the blanket out from around his foot.

"Jack, you have to listen. Then we have to get everyone up. Everyone!"

"What are you talking about?" Jack said. "Why do we have to..."

"There's no time!" Raf cried.

For Rafael to be here, white as sheet, Jack knew it was serious. Very serious. And saying what he did? Jack snapped awake pretty fast.

"Raf, calm down." he said. "Start from the beginning."

For an instant, it was almost like Raf wasn't going to. Like he was going to lose it right there, his anxiety burning him up. "There's no time." he moaned. Jack felt his stomach twist up a little.

"Raf, _tell_ me." He prompted firmly. And when the other boy just looked down at his paper, Jack had to take a calculated guess, willing himself not to get caught up in Raf's panic.

"Raf, if you're on to something, tell me first. It won't do to panic." And that finally seemed to get through.

"Yeah, yeah okay." Rafael looked around, and then, lacking a table, he sank right down onto the floor in front of Jack's chair and hurriedly smoothed out his paper. There was some kind of printed diagram there with crisscrossed lines all over the place, pointing to other scribbled notes that had been furiously circled.

"Okay, okay, look. It's a false positive, all right? Do you know what that is? It's when you think what you're doing is solving the problem, but it's not addressing the problem at all. Right?" he didn't even look up as he poured over the sheet.

"Okay." Jack agreed.

"Tonight when you were walking around in the desert, something started to bug me. That and how things weren't going the same as they had during the tests inside Bumblebee's mind. And later we simply forgot to run safety checks." Rafael groaned, shaking his head. "_Forgot_! Jesus!"

Jack went to say something but Rafael held up a hand.

"Then things happened one, two, three." He pointed at the paper. "The scarabs, that old Autobot, Arcee's voice. And each one left me feeling like we were overlooking something. More than ever! But I didn't know what! I only knew that I knew it."

"Raf, take it easy." Jack said. The younger man looked up then, his eyes tortured.

"So I copied the Tempest protocol and did my own work on it." he blurted out, almost like a confession.

Jack blinked. "The Tempest Signal? What for?"

"I had a hunch." Raf bit his lip, but what startled Jack was that he actually had tears in his eyes.

"What's going on?" Jack sat up, bending to sit the glass of water on the floor next to his chair.

Rafael looked down, kneeling there over his paper, and he knew he had to say it right. Had to make Jack see it.

"Jack, you got to see where we went wrong. It's like...it's like..." Rafael hunted for the words as he looked back up. "It's like voluntary blindness. Blackrock's people had nothing but guesswork to go on, right? With all of it. The VR4, everything. Then they get their chance at Arcee and we're brought in to help. The Autobots too. But together, I think we all just made it worse."

"Made what worse?" Jack asked.

"Creating a false positive!" Rafael urged. "A great big, fat one!" he swallowed, the words pouring out of him. "Everything happened so fast that night with the VR3. You, me, the hospital, going after Airachnid. And then you getting hauled to the CIA the next morning only to come back with some _good_ news for a change. You could say _that's _when it started. We were desperate for a chance to help Arcee and Blackrock finally gave us that chance. Even the Autobots got involved."

"Well, yeah?" Jack's expression was puzzled.

Rafael took a breath, swallowing hard, like what he knew was nearly choking him as he tried to spit it out.

"Jesus, Jack, dontcha get it? While we were all so hell bent on mounting a rescue, patting ourselves on the back that we had it down, we overlooked what we already knew! But it's been staring us right in the face!"

Jack frowned.

"What do you mean?" He said, trying to get some sense of direction. He motioned at the paper. "We knew about the traps. There were more snakes and bugs waiting for us but you out-foxed them. We even killed some."

"I'm not _talking _about the traps and what we knew what to expect. I'm talking about _Airachnid_. What we knew about _her_!" Rafael tried to slow his thoughts and not get ahead of himself. "A part of what I was feeling came from how Blackrock said I knew these people. And I realized we as a team know Airachnid, right? And then I started to see how we were ignoring her goals. Not her motives, Jack, her _goals_."

"Yeah, to try and stop whoever helps Arcee." Jack answered.

Rafael straightened right up on his knees, desperate.

"No, no, no! If she can snag one of us in the process, sure! But what she really wants is to _kill_ Arcee!"

Jack looked at him. "That's nothing new. And she sure as hell isn't going to get another chance at that now, is she?" He said grimly. Rafael scooped up the paper.

"Dammit, you're doing it right now. You're forgetting who we're really dealing with! Forgetting _her_. She doesn't need another chance! That's the point! Jack, look at it. Remember the cave? The ambush spider? We're too used to Airachnid always drawing it out and leading us on. But she's a Decepticon and when a Decepticon knows the game is up, they make sure to cover their retreat and leave nothing behind. It was like when Starscream blew up that energon mine rather than let us have it, remember? And in Airachnid's case, when she knew her old lair had been compromised, she left behind something to _kill _whoever showed up to poke their nose around."

Rafael held the paper out between them.

"Then she gets inside Arcee's mind and traps her. But she must have known there was a good chance she would be driven out at _some_ point. So like her cave, she prepares for that eventuality. She prepares to kill. She must have known she would never get a chance like that again. And that's_ just _where we went wrong. What would Airachnid_ really_ want? If she can get one us, great, but we're just a bonus! The bitch has traps within traps within traps!" Rafael was so upset he sobbed a little. Jack leaned forward and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Stay with it, Raf." he said.

"We've been so wrong." Rafael moaned, shaking the paper at his friend. "Of _course_ she would be sure to make the best of a chance at once of us, but what we've overlooked here is that she knew beyond a _doubt_ she could make sure of Arcee." he went on in anguish. "Think about it. How delicious would it be to tease us? Make us think there was a chance to rescue Arcee and then let us bumble around attempting to do so. That's just what _we_ did and that's just what _she _did. And while we're held up by booby traps, malfunctions and hidden doors, not to mention our own blind ignorance, something far more sinister is going on the whole time!"

"What are you saying? How do you know that that's what's happening?" Jack sat forward in his chair.

"The Tempest signal and that old Autobot." Rafael moaned. "That's the key! That's why I took it. Oh, man. It's so obvious! If the virus had been designed to kill the rescuers, that desert would have been crawling with dragonsnakes. Instead it left you plodding around in the sand. Why? And if it had been designed to kill Arcee out-right, she would have been dead already. But she wasn't. What fun would that have been for Airachnid? No, she just happens to let it out that Arcee was locked away in her own mind, enticing a rescue attempt. But that's the juicy part. That's just a fool's errand. Because all this time, the virus went after Arcee!"

Jack was startled, trying to sift through what he knew in his own mind. "How?"

"The snakes! The Scarabs! And who knows what else!"

"But _how_? The tempest Signal shows..."

"Is compromised!" Rafael cried. He went on before Jack could speak.

"The virus has a recognition strand, right? Ratchet worked on the Tempest Signal himself, right? His fingerprints are all over it. The virus registered that as, I dunno, one of us mounting a rescue attempt, and it simply altered itself to give us one more false lead. Disinformation! Like walking around in the desert. But it also has a _replication _strand. The snakes in the desert should have doubled in number the second time around, but they didn't. So where did the rest go?" He stopped, catching his breath.

Jack made to speak, but Rafael raised both hands up to cut him off.

"Then it was something Blackrock said. _We have much to cover, but take some down time._ And it suddenly clicked. It all became obvious. _Airachnid_ became obvious. Jack, what if we set off some kind of countdown? Wouldn't that just be her style? And since the virus had already countered Ratchet's work, we weren't even seeing it!"

Jack swallowed, struggling to tie it all together as Rafael obviously had.

"Raf, don't you think that..."

Rafael looked at the paper. "I had to be sure. I set up my own recognition strand in an isolated system. A search protocol for virus patterns in the matrix while preventing recognition. And sure enough, the whole works peeled right open. Like an onion. That virus has been one step ahead of us the whole time. _She's_ been one step ahead of us the whole time. But I had it when we found that old Autobot! That made all the other clues start to add up. Plus how you were ambushed when you got to close to some answers! Even as Megatron."

Jack took the paper, even though he had little chance of understanding all of Rafael's cross referencing. Rafael leaned forward and pointed at a few things.

"That old Autobot is something like an embodiment of Arcee's immune system. Her resistance. He even talked about how they had to fight back. Fight back against what? And the rust? The corrosion? The run down state of her mind? That takes_ time_. How long was he a prisoner? Look how fast he was shut up when he started talking, so that's another clue! The virus is designed to toy with us while it turns inward on Arcee!"

"But...but..." Jack stammered.

"Jack, I'm right." Rafael said, taking the paper back and pointing to more numbers. "The first thing to do is remember this is Airachnid. She'll _kill_ Arcee given a chance! But the second half of that is hiding the attempt! And there it is. We're being played. And meanwhile there's a war going on in there Arcee can't win!"

It wasn't the most solid argument for what Rafael believed was happening, but somehow the circumstances had clicked in Raf that pointed to a deeper, and yes, obvious danger. Which put him on trail of bread crumbs to show that they all had been lulled into a false sense of security. And he had shaken Jack up enough that he could suddenly see it now, too. It _was _obvious. _Airachnid_ was obvious. The virus as a whole was nothing but one last calling card, designed for maximum suffering and torture. She couldn't have planned it better. In letting the humans think they had a chance, she really just designed it to make them Arcee's executioner. It was like Rafael had said. Draw it out, play with your victims. And then kill. They had forgotten the kill. And their efforts had been in the wrong direction since. All this time. For a _month_.

Traps within traps within traps. Airachnid's masterpiece.

The thought was horrifying and Jack wanted to throw up. Suddenly, every second of the last month surged into his mind as imminent death for Arcee. How Airachnid would have crowed knowing the bumbling humans might have even helped her seal Arcee's fate with their arrogant little minds and ignorant little tools.

Jack's face twisted into such a grimace, Rafael grew afraid.

But the older boy then bent way over his knees and buried his face in his hands, dropping the paper and letting out such a groan of horror and despair, Rafael never forgot the sound of it to the end of his days.

"Oh God, I'm sorry." Rafael moaned. "I...I set it off. It was me who done it." he cried finally, the tears rolling down his face.

Jack Darby looked up, his eyes cold. But he wasn't looking at Raf. He hadn't even heard him.

"I wish you were still alive, so I could _kill you all over again_." he snarled, but it wasn't Rafael he was speaking to. A moment later Jack was out of his chair, bodily pulling Rafael to his feet and spinning around to snatch up his clothes.

"Come on, we gotta go!" He cried, yanking on his jeans and pulling his t-shirt down over his head.

"I set it off!" Rafael moaned again, taking up the paper. Now that he had made Jack see through the illusion, it had zapped all his earlier haste and he was crying openly, feeling drained. Jack plunked down on the end of his bed and started yanking his boots on over his bare feet.

"Raf!" he cried. "Rafael! There's no time for that. There's no time at all!" he shouted at the other boy who looked up with red rimmed eyes.

_A whole month._

"Listen to me, how much damage are we talking?" Jack fired out. Rafael sniffled and blinked.

"I...I dunno. It's not about damage it's about time. I think she's being smothered. Like starved for oxygen. Over-run. There's so much we don't know, but..."

"How many numbers are we talking, then?" Jack's stomach was a ball of ice. For a moment, the two of them locked eyes.

"Enough for a war." Rafael said softly, but his words carried through the room.

Jack was off the bed, taking Rafael by the arm and heading them both towards the door.

"_Come on_!"


	61. Hourglass

**Hourglass**

Michael Blackrock stood there quietly and looked down at Rafael's crumpled paper in his hand for the umpteenth time.

_ Eight years and three degrees. A quarter of million dollars tuition. Not to mention one of the greatest assemblies of minds and resources in the nation, and this is what I come up with?_

As much as this paper nearly made him sick with it's implications, as a psychologist he could appreciate the nature of it's humility. Some psychologist, though.

_Arrogant, vain, and self-assured. I walked around here with a cup of coffee seven hours ago like some idiot covering a baseball game. _

He sighed and looked up, knowing he was being a little unreasonable. His people had done all they could with the VR series and they _were_ getting it, after a fashion. Even before they had had a chance to work with the Autobots. And even though there was a psychological file on each and every Transformer here on Earth back at his home laboratories, they really did have no working knowledge on the one known as Airachnid. So from a certain point of view, they weren't culpable for any of this, but it still stung. Professionally.

_ A false positive. Like a first year sophomore. Look what _we_ can do! When we should have been thinking about what's already been done. And it's not that I am worried about any blame, I just worry about this souring what we are attempting to build here. Team Prime and it's people are notorious for crucifying themselves over things they can't help, but this one is hitting so close to home, it may change everything. If the one known as Arcee dies, here and now, Jack Darby will be lost to us as well. He'll never be the same._

_ But that Rafael, he got it. He put it all together and set it off like a firecracker. Amazing. I won't soon forget the lessons learned here. But better late than never, I suppose. And now Raf has stirred this place up like an hornet's nest. I've got some thinking to do about him. Unorthodox to be sure, but brilliant. All he needs is guidance. _

Blackrock lowered the paper as Dr. Nakamura came over. Behind the elderly man, every possible person had been rousted out of bed to get the VR4 back up and running as soon as possible. Best of all, most of the program experts were still up. And that might be a disadvantage because none of them were even close to being rested. So Blackrock had to put his faith in energy drinks and sugar. But that was the least of his worries. Most of those people thrived under such conditions anyway, and along with Rafael, they had quickly tore down the Tempest program and confirmed everything that Rafael had said.

And those results had been...staggering. Even now, three of them were working at it furiously, as all the rest kept up a running, ongoing work of the program matrix. Blackrock turned to Nakamura and there was no mistaking the man's inner shame.

"_Dono_. With respect, I wish to.." the older man began.

"Hitoshi, this is no time to be tending any resignation." Blackrock cut him off. "You've been there for me for twelve years. Put away being Japanese for the moment and _help_ me. I need you, all right?"

Nakamura hesitated and then he executed a short little bow. His employer, Blackrock, looked relieved but Hotoshi Nakamura wondered if the man would ever understand. But no, that wasn't fair. For a westerner, Blackrock understood him better than any other man in the country. And his friendship always allowed for Nakamura to have a chance at redemption. If he wanted it. But the shame still stung. And what was worse, the projected outlook was worse than expected. Silently, he straightened up and held out the clipboard, wishing he did not have to witness Blackrock's obvious shock.

"Seven percent?" He gaped. In a rare show of emotion, the young billionaire was openly stunned.

"_Hai_. Taking into account the replication and time elapsed, the adjustments to the Tempest program shows that this is all of the viable mindscape the one called Arcee has left."

"Oh my God. That's not even...a day's worth of time."

"Less."

Blackrock lowered the clipboard and sighed. He looked thoughtful. "Hitoshi, is this virus eating her mind up? Are we looking at something here, like if Jack manages to find her and bring her out of it, she'll be nothing more than a vegetable?"

"It is my belief, over the course of this month and what we have concluded this night, that the one called Arcee is resisting this Airachnid. Her mind is being smothered, not destroyed. Stolen from her much in the same way the Decepticon originally managed to take it over. But even now she fights back, for if she was not able to do so, the virus would have consumed her long ago."

"How can you be certain?"

"I cannot. There's is much we do not know about these incredible minds. And even less do we know about Airachnid's virus. For reasons unknown, she did not slay Arcee outright, but instead orchestrated this viral tripwire to finish her off."

"I'm told that's her style." Blackrock made a face.

"Ah. But it has made it possible for Arcee to fight back. And we also concluded that if her mind was being destroyed with every percent lost, she would have collapsed at fifty five percent and the process would only have increased. She would have been dead within a matter of days. But even trapped in her own mind and potentially unaware of what is happening, at seven percent...she resists." Nakamura finished, his chin coming up a little. For all his intellect, the poetic soul in him said the last with a measure of admiration and dignity. Blackrock felt a little better.

"All right, then. Now. Rafael."

"A remarkable boy."

"Who seems capable of greatness, but under the circumstances, thinks more with his heart than his head. His actions may have been in time, but his methods would give any other man a stroke."

Nakamura said nothing.

"Whatever happens here today, Doctor. We're going to take a serious look at Mr. Esquivel." Blackrock looked away at the wall for a moment.

"That Airachnid was one truly wicked beast." he commented, turning back and bringing them back to the present. "It's like she's set an hourglass up so everyone could watch Arcee trickle away."

"_Hai_. A devil_ kami_, this Airachnid."

Blackrock looked at the clipboard. They couldn't even accurately say what Jack could expect to find in there anymore. Nor how they could go about reviving Arcee. Everyone had believed there would have been time for that. But not now. And maybe it wasn't even possible. But that wouldn't stop Jack. And Blackrock and his people wouldn't be much help or even have much to offer. Not with any degree of accuracy. This virus_ was_ one step ahead of them. The rules could change at any moment. And they had seven percent worth of time to figure it out.

"What do you conclude will happen at one hundred percent?" he asked without looking up.

"The trap will be complete." Nakamura replied. "The Autobot Arcee will have no more defenses, and effectively, nowhere to run. Then it will kill her. As surely as a bullet to the head."

**ooo**

Blackrock followed Nakamura a short time later when Jack Darby and his people came into Central. Jack looked odd, wrapped as he was in the VR sheath-suit again, complete with paper slippers on his feet. But laughter had taken a holiday from that young man as readily as an amputation.

Of course there had been no question they were going back in, and Blackrock doubted anyone would have dared suggest otherwise. Jack didn't want to hear it. Not one word about anything from his electrolytes to machine specs to percentages, advice, caution or evaluations or even mothering.

_Man on a mission. Might even be a suicidal one. _

He was determined and grim and only the need to control his temper kept him from lashing out. He wouldn't lose focus now or drive his blood pressure up, he was just all business. Blackrock had to admire that. Someone else might have been all over the place, raging and losing their composure as they demanded results, and really only impeding them, but not Jack.

Still, Blackrock was determined to make sure Jack would see no percentage scale. Nor would he see the diagram representing the Tempest signal and it's new graphics. Work his people had extrapolated from Rafael's crude little peekaboo tool. Safeguards were in place now to keep the output source clear, but it was a pyrrhic victory.

All it helped them do was watch Arcee die. The millions of tiny little tiles phasing out from blue to purple. Airachnid's hourglass. And now there was way more purple than blue.

Even now, Nakamura reached over the shoulder of three program technicians on station and shut off their screen. They looked up, puzzled, but then they grew quiet when they noticed Jack coming up.

He was followed by his mother and Miko and two medical technicians that had discretely hung back. Only now they made their way over to the medical station of the VR4 and took their positions, waiting for him. Behind it all, sullen and grim, Ratchet looked on. He was the only Autobot present at the moment. Time would tell if that was a bad thing.

And he had been oddly reticent about hearing that Airachnid had trumped his efforts. Perhaps one got that way from an endless supply of set-backs. But he knew enough to keep from grousing. It wouldn't help anything now.

And Ratchet was the only Autobot yet apprised of what was happening to Arcee and he and Blackrock kept it that way for the moment. There would be time later, once Jack was full inside the dive, to inform Optimus and the others. Even as he watched, the old medic shut down his computer and walked over to Arcee, placing a hand on her table and turning to wait on the humans.

Blackrock instinctively waited as the trio marched up to him. June looked as perpetually worried as she always did and Miko, thankfully, only squeezed Jack's hand and cut off to go be near Ratchet. Better that than have to tolerate Blackrock and she couldn't have been a bigger help to him just then.

Jack stopped, his eyes dark and flinty and Blackrock noted he was breathing deep, his nostrils flaring. June fluttered like a pretty moth for a moment, wondering if she should stay close, but accepting all that she knew as something she really could do nothing about, she just resigned herself to the fact Jack was going back in under some terrible conditions and circumstances. Blackrock meant to debrief them both, but perhaps she had heard enough from Rafael already and she turned only long enough to hug Jack tight, standing on her toes and burying her face into his neck. He thawed a little bit and gave her a return squeeze with one arm, and then June just turned and made her way over to the rest of team Prime.

Blackrock tried a smile as June moved past him, feeling like he was Napolean standing before one of his field marshals on the eve of Waterloo. Or was it the other way around?

"Well, all set?" He asked and Jack just nodded.

"Are you angry with me, Jack? With us?"

"No, Michael. Everyone has done the best they could. If you had been there these last four years, you could pretty much cover everything just by saying this is typical of Airachnid."

"Then there is no reason to be angry with yourself."

Jack just snorted.

"I'm serious. You're good at that, Jack. I should know."

"More of those files I'll never read?"

"Maybe when you get back." Blackrock smiled. Jack sighed, standing there with a tired like shake of his head. Blackrock had a sudden inspiration.

"All right then, no more hollow euphemisms. Before you go, there's something you should know." Blackrock said. Jack looked up. "This is a pretty humble pie we've been served up, but now is not the time to worry about that. Nor is it the time to worry about anything else. At all. To be blunt, we have scrapped thirty days worth of projected outcomes and now we're appraising this all off of Rafael's conclusions. That means no more walking on eggshells. There's no time to be picking our way along with a microscope and playing it safe."

He had Jack's attention now, even though he was certain that that had been Jack's mind all along. He went on, not cushioning it all.

"Whatever Airachnid has done, she's had been thorough. Perhaps her time spent in the Autobots main computer had taught her all their tricks. That being said, we don't have a clue how to help, where to go, or what to look for. We thought we had time to unlock all that, but now..."

"Kick in the door?" Jack asked lightly.

"Be careful where you kick, but yes. It's really up to you following...your gut." The billionaire lowered his voice. "We have a thousand questions to add to a thousand guesses right now, but none of that matters. There is this much. Arcee. We do think her mind is being smothered, not destroyed. She's resisting. You just have to find your way in there and fight your way through. I wish it had been the other way around and we just had to disarm Airachnid's trap, but now? It will be war."

"What about collateral damage to her mind?"

"We can't say. We can only focus on you. And you should think of it like you're an antibody. And sometimes an antibody can harm the host just as much as the virus. You'll have to just exercise your best judgment. Now, the damnable thing of it is, the virus seems to be reacting to you as Megatron. Maybe it's evolving in more ways than one. Or maybe that ambush was a preset. We don't know. But at least we know the snakes and scarabs can be taken out when you find them."

"Or when they find me." Jack grimaced.

Blackrock paused a moment.

"Jack, I wish I had more I could tell you. It's going to be a mess in there."

"One thing." Jack said, fusing with his wrists. "And this is just between me and you."

"Yes?"

"Taking into account we don't know a damn thing except that there's no time to find anything out, you leave me in there. Okay? I don't want to be pulled back for any reason. "

"We know you can be hurt. If it comes to a point that..."

"I don't want to be brought out for _any_ reason. I never thought I would say this, but we'll just have to trust in Megatron. I can't think of any other Transformer who has more lives than he does."

"Good point." Blackrock replied.

"So do I have your promise?"

"Right to the end, huh?"

"Right to the end. All or nothing. One man to another, that's how I want it." Jack nodded slowly.

"Jack you're going in to face who knows how many snakes and scarabs between you and Arcee. And you're going to put this is on me while being left in the same room as Miko and your mother."

"I guess that's so."

"You might have the better bargain." the billionaire sighed.

Jack just smiled. Both men stared at each other for a long moment.

"All right." Blackrock said. "All or nothing."

"You make Optimus understand if you have too. When he gets in."

"My God, you don't ask much, do you?" Blackrock frowned. But then, as he turned with Jack to walk him over to the crash-couch, something occurred to him.

"Maybe Optimus will understand better than any of us." And then he turned Jack over to the technicians.


	62. Purple

**Purple**

The five Autobot's ran down the corridor as fast as their feet could carry them. They were in a bad spot and they knew it. They couldn't transform here. The hallways and passages didn't allow for it, and fighting on foot was slowing them down. But it didn't slow their pursuers. They could hear them now, screeching and hissing as they came up behind them, slipping through the shot up compound without even slowing. They were hunting the five Autobots, and the Autobots knew it.

"We gotta stop and fight! We can't let these things have their way!" Four of Five called out.

"Holding still to get chewed up isn't the way either!" Two of Five cried.

"We'll pull back and find a better spot." One of Five called to them over his shoulder.

They rounded a corner and came upon a room with a grated walkway that spanned an energy canal. But where the recessed ditch had once flowed with light and energon, it now roiled with green mist, overflowing at the edges and rising like a fog almost to the bridge itself.

Gritting his teeth, One of Five ran across, feeling the mist burning his legs as he did so. The bridge creaked ominously as the others followed one by one. But it was Four of Five who ran out of luck. The walkway collapsed under him with a weakened snap of steel and he disappeared down into the mist with a scream.

Five of Five pulled up short, still on the other side as the other three turned around to see. They could all hear Four of Five screaming, the mist turbulent where he was thrashing around under the surface, but then the screaming stopped as quickly as it had begun.

Five of Five looked up. "Shoot me!" He cried.

One of Five pushed ahead of the other two.

"Jump!" He said. But when Five of Five backed up to take a run at it, something in the shadow of the doorway behind him snatched him off his feet.

He didn't even have_ time_ to scream. There was a horrible crunching sound.

The other three opened up, their blasters spitting energon back into the wall of shadow, but Three of Five's weapon stopped. Of them all, he was the most corroded, coughing weakly as he backed up behind the other two, who kept up their fire.

"Cease fire." One of Five gasped. Two of Five was close to panic.

"Let's get out of here! What are you staring at!?" He cried, stepping away and tugging at the other two. Before they could run, something waddled out into the light from the airlock door. It stopped on the other side of the bridge.

It was all teeth in an over-large head, with four disjointed reptile legs and bulbous body and tail. There was a gaping intake vent on the top of it's head that served as it's nostrils and it had no eyes. No eyes at all. It hunted by scent. It opened it's mouth and screamed at the three, rusty tendrils of metal hanging from it's fangs showing them the fate of Five of Five.

_Now_ they ran.

"That broken bridge won't stop it!" Two of Five wailed. Three of Five lost ground, coughing. At Two of Five's words, he simply stopped.

"No, no it won't." He wheezed and he started fussing with his seized up weapon.

One and Two stopped when they realized he wasn't behind them.

They turned to see him about twenty yards back, looking up at them once, before he turned around and ran back they way they had come.

"Three!" One cried.

"Let's go!" Two wailed, dragging him away. "Come on!"

The nightmare was already on the other side of the canal, having leapt over the broken expanse of bridge easily. It sniffed the air, confused for the moment by the discharges of energon lingering here. But it had the scent now and it knew in it's murderous brain that it had only eaten one of five Autobot's that had been seen fleeing the battle this way. Three were left.

It was a hunter, dispatched to run them down. And oh how it loved hunting. Hunting made it hungry. So did eating. And the only way to stop the hunger, was to hunt something else down.

It had taken just two comical little steps on it's stubby legs, preparing to pursue, when it heard something coming. It stopped itself then, waiting and curious. In fact, it was taking it's time, for it could always catch the food, such speed was it capable of with it's powerful reptilian body.

Three of Five came charging back down the hallway, his weapon held up across his chest. Like he was hugging it. There was no one there to witness his heroics. He didn't even scream, so weak did he feel. And when the nightmare spotted him, it capered back and forth on it's legs almost as if it was happy to see him. It spread it's jaws wide and rushed forward to meet his charge.

He ran straight at it, and at the last second, when they were just a foot apart, the weapon exploded.

Three of Five would have been pleased to know that his sacrifice wasn't in vain. The energon explosion which annihilated him, also burst apart the nightmare like an egg, channeling itself right down it's open throat and blasting it's body apart with a wet splash of purple gore and metal that coated the inside of the room with a tremendous bang. The walls shook from the explosion.

But it didn't change a thing. Three more nightmares were already coming into the room and they easily leapt the broken bridge one by one. Then they started pursuing the Autobots, not even pausing to take note of the carnage. Or they decimated companion.

They didn't even care.

**ooo**

One and Two's desperate flight came to a sudden halt in a room at the end of a long corridor. It was a bitter end. The airlock door they came through slid back to show a small cross junction with only one other door leading out. It was shut tight and the controls were broken. And despite everything they tried, it simply would not open. It was of a type heavier than the one they had come through and it would have been impossible to force open. They simply lacked the power.

With a whimper, Two spun around to flee the room back the way they had come, but One stopped him. "It's too far to double back!" And he slapped the control pad to shut the one door behind them. They were trapped in here and they knew it.

"They're coming." One said, as he heard the crawling and scraping coming down the corridor.

"Oh, Primus! This is it!" Two cried, backing up as far away from the working door as he could. One did the same.

Together, each one braced in a corner on either side of the larger sealed door, they waited with their weapons leveled for whatever was hunting them to come into the room.

A moment later a heavy body slammed into the smaller airlock and started tearing it down, bending it over and breaking it right off it's track. One and Two opened fired the moment they had a target, but it made little difference. Three nightmares piled into the room and it was just blind misfortune that they all fell on the screaming Two, tearing him apart.

One had only moments to decide what to do. Overload his own weapon, or try and slip past the three hunters and back down the corridor. It wouldn't do any good. They had him cold. And he pushed himself back into his corner, braced for the end, watching and waiting in mute horror for his turn as the three nightmares finished off Two.

Then the larger airlock door opened.

But it didn't open under it's own power. It was broken and had been sealed off for some time, ages perhaps, because whatever opened it still had to use force. With a squeal, it ground back on it's track a few inches, a trickle of rusty powder falling to the floor.

It made such a screech, that the three nightmares all stopped their feed and turned around to stare. Or at least sniff, Their wide intake nostrils were probing the air. Number One did stare, looking up in shock at the door where he slumped to the side of it in his corner. And to his horror, he saw a hand come out and close around the edge of the door, to begin to shoving it back even farther in it's track.

Huge fingers, each one a wicked looking, pointed talon. And to his eyes, that meant it was just another monster come to feed. He groaned, but the sound of it was lost in the absolute cacophony of protesting metal as whatever it was kept pushing the door open.

With one hand.

Every creature within the room watched and listened, unmoving, as something massive pushed finally pushed the door all the way open. And then it stopped. Years of rust and dust hung in the opening, settling to the floor slowly, and Number One craned his neck to stare into the shadow, thinking for sure his end was upon him.

But strangely, the nightmares kept staring too, holding still and sniffing, as if they were puzzled.

Then there was a clap of purple thunder that rattled Number One's very teeth in his head. A tremendous blast of purple energy hammered into the center nightmare and it exploded with a splash of metal shreds and purple muck. It went off like a grenade in the small confines of the room, and the bodies of the other two actually shielded Number One from the blast. The demise of their comrade wounded them though, as the shrapnel of it's exploding body tore into their unprotected flanks and bowled them over in the explosion.

Number One winced as purple goo splattered his cheek, pulling his legs up and sliding to the floor as a truly massive Transformer stepped into the room. Of a kind he had never seen before. A huge, armored humanoid with spiked shoulder pads, gray colored, and thick arms and legs with a broad chest that spoke of a powerful fighter.

The two nightmares, screeching in rage and pain, scrambled back to their feet and turned to meet this new foe. Who snarled at them with a mouth full of pointed teeth and waded right in.

His massive fist came down like a hammer blow on the top of one's head, crushing it so completely that the lower fangs of it's jaw slammed up through the top of it's own skull. It dropped like a lead weight. The third leapt at him, and he shoved the end of his fist into it's eager mouth. Incredibly, in the same motion, he extended a warblade from his arm that slammed through the nightmare with a abrupt, wet chunk of sound. Pinning it on the blade from mouth to tail.

And that was that.

The newcomer lowered his arm and the thing slid off the end of his blade, it's mouth still wide open and stone dead. He surveyed his handiwork and then turned to notice the Autobot. Who was crouched there wondering if he was next. The massive armored leviathan blinked in surprise.

"An Autobot!" He growled.

"Y-yes." Number One stammered.

"Are there any more of those things?" The massive warrior motioned at the remains of the nightmares.

"N-no. Not unless more show up."

"Where did you come from?" The warrior turned to him, and it occurred to Number One that maybe he wasn't about to die after all.

"From the war." he answered simply. "Where did _you_ come from?" he dared ask, looking the warrior over.

"I'm here to help. But first maybe you can help _me_." The warrior smiled, his eyes a glowing rich purple.

"You...you're purple. Purple is bad." the Autobot chewed his lip.

"If that was true, would I have just saved you?"

"I guess not. But...what's your name?"

"My name is Jackson." the newcomer smiled.

**ooo**

When One of Five came walking back up to the surface, he brought a friend. A friend that nearly short-circuited Twenty of Twenty. The field-promoted leader of this cell's resistance, couldn't believe his eyes when One of Five came walking up out of a recessed access tunnel and towards the Autobot contingent as it made ready to pull back from this sector.

"One of Five! What are you doing?" Twenty called, dropping his crate and lifting his firearm. The remaining members of his squad turned to see what he had, and soon they followed suit, all aiming their weapons at Jack, who was cloaked in Megatron's massive avatar.

"Stop! I bring a friend!" One called out, his hands up in the air in a calming gesture.

"He's no friend! He's purple! Get away from him!"

"Twenty, do not fire. His color is purple but he is not the enemy. In fact, he has killed a dozen to just to get us back to the surface. He says he is a friend. He says his name is Jackson."

A female Autobot lowered her weapon ever so slightly, staring in surprise, her golden eyes wide.

"Purple has no name. Is he our relief?"

"No, but he saved me." One looked up at Jack.

"Where are the others?" Twenty snarled.

"They are gone." One answered and the other fifteen Autobots here all glanced at each other, distracted and clearly worried.

"Have any others made it back?" One asked.

"Just you. Who is this?" Twenty snarled. None of them had lowered their weapons, and even though there were males and females alike, they all looked the same after a fashion. Similar in how they all had the same rank and file brown and orange color, height, and size. Along with either golden eyes or visors, each was slightly different than the next and together like this they all looked like siblings. Brothers and sisters. Only their designation's were different. And Jack had to remember that these were embodiments of Arcee's immune system. Maybe even her living memories. But they still had no idea what to make of him. All they could see, was that he _looked_ mean. And he was glowing with purple light.

He had debated using his real name and Megatron's in equal measure. If he said 'Jack' he might bring the virus down on him like a tsunami. And if he used 'Megatron', the Autobot army might just start shooting. Then again, they hadn't recognized him. Megatron really didn't need an introduction did he? So that was a good sign. So far. Still, no need so tempt fate.

Jackson it was. And it was working as far as he could tell. But he had to get them to drop their guns.

"Look, I'm not an enemy. Do you think I would save one of your own and then just walk up here in front of so many guns?"

"You are purple!" Twenty of Twenty growled and Jack was glad he had removed his Decepticon insignia some time ago.

"You may be fighting purple, but so am I." He said by way of a reply.

"It is true! Purple is afraid of him!" One shouted enthusiastically. "They fought hard but he overcame them. Some of them even tried to flee!"

The first female dropped her weapon all the way now. "Is he a Prime?" she asked innocently. Jack kept himself from actually barking out a laugh. There were some things, even in this world, that were to outrageous to imagine. Having Megatron be mistaken for a Prime was one for the books. Apparently the one called Twenty felt the same way.

"He is no Prime, you fool!" Twenty shot her a glare. "Raise your weapon!"

But a strange thing happened then. Before Jack could blink, immediately all the Autobots started arguing amongst themselves, male against female, dropping their weapons and forgetting he was even there. The females out numbered the males by a narrow margin, but Jack could hardly make out what they were saying. Sometimes they were even blurting at each in machine code. The raw language of Cybertron.

_They're not really Autobots. They're just an embodiment of the whole _he thought to himself_. And the girls out number the boys. Maybe I can get somewhere with them. But perhaps that's just attrition and this resistance cell has just lost more of one than the other. But she mentioned Prime. Do I dare ask?_

"People, look, I..." But when he stepped forward, all of them immediately stopped arguing and snapped their blasters back up at him. It was a little eery.

"I'm not a Prime. But I have known a Prime. Is there a chance you could take me to meet him?"

"Ha!" Twenty barked. "That is what he wants! To be taken behind our main lines so he can do maximum damage!"

"How? He is one. And we number..." One spoke up.

"Do not tell him our numbers, you fool!" Twenty snarled. "Have you not argued his prowess?"

"Prowess enough he could destroy all of us _here_ if he wanted too." One snapped back. Jack groaned on the inside.

_You're not helping, One_.

"There is no Prime for you to meet. He fell early in the war." The first female said sadly, lowering her weapon again. The other females all did the same. Twenty bristled, but he said nothing. Jack lowered his hands.

"What did he look like?" he asked.

"I do not remember now. It was before. During that, that was before, when it was earlier." she said strangely. Jack couldn't make out what she meant.

"Was he red and blue? Tall, like me?"

The slender female frowned and looked around at herself and the others.

"No, he looked liked us." She said, turning back. Jack didn't know what to say next. Whatever embodiment of Prime existed, in whatever time this was for Arcee's mind, it was all blurring into one for her it seemed.

_During that that was before_? _When it was earlier_? He shook his head a little, wishing he had Rafael's insight.

When he bridged in this time, it was obvious that indeed the virus was adaptive. In the first dive there had been problems like the weapons, which slowly bled over into the lights. But now, it was communications. They were spotty and intermittent. And Jack was so deep inside the program, not even his human ears back at base could pick anything up.

He had spent some time working his way down, mostly flights of steps but a few elevators, coming upon groups of snakes or beetles now and then, and always just more of the same abandoned compound. All of it still and dusty. Diving, always diving, until he had been lucky enough to encounter his first Autobot.

Then this one had taken him on whole different route until they came out up onto the first landscape Jack had seen since the desert. He supposed this was more of the shifting mindscape inside Arcee's mind, but the sky here was roiling with gray clouds overhead, like a storm was brewing, and it stretched as far as the eyes could see in a battered, war torn no-mans land.

He felt exposed out here, after all the creeping and crawling to get here.

So he really wished he had someone to ask about all this now. But if he started talking to himself, these Autobots might think he was crazy. At the least the video feed was working. Or so he hoped. The last time he had a few seconds contact with Blackrock and his people back at the base, they had said as much. But the deeper he went, the more he worried that might change, too. And if both audio_ and_ visual went, they probably _would_ pull him back, despite what he had said. That was his biggest worry. So much so that at one point, while traversing a corridor, he had even stopped and scratched in the words with a finger into the rust on a wall.

_Don't pull me back. Don't you dare. _

And he silently willed it again, hoping they were watching all this and wondering what to say next when another female spoke up.

"Eight of Ten is dying." She said simply, as if making an announcement. Most of the Autobots looked at her, but Twenty was still glaring at Jack. It was obvious he wanted to go and check on one of his people, but he still didn't dare take his eyes of the newcomer.

"Four of Six and Three of Eleven. Cover him!" He growled. Two other brown and orange Autobots lumbered up. Males both. A bit stockier than the rest, and a shade shorter. And their weapons looked like some type of heavier caliber. Support section, perhaps.

Number One shook his head sadly as he walked forward. "I told you, he is our friend." he sighed again.

Jack made to fall in behind him, since it appeared he was to be escorted, but Twenty of Twenty flared up again.

"He doesn't have to come and _watch_! He might be the one who killed her, for all we know!" he growled. By now most of the females had moved off, over to a small area that had been cordoned off as an emergency triage. Only the males stayed, watching Jack close.

He took a gamble

"I didn't kill her." he said. "I've never seen any of you before in my life, you little _asshole_." And he said it as he brushed _past_ Twenty, making it obvious he meant to go and see the dying Eight of Ten.

Twenty blinked in surprise and jumped back, but he didn't try to stop him, falling in alongside Jack instead and keeping him covered with the other two. The other males followed.

**ooo**

Jack came up to see the females all standing around a small pallet, where another female Transformer lay. She had taken heavy damage and was missing an arm and a leg, but that wasn't what was killing her. Either she had been exposed to it more, or it had somehow infected her wounds, but the green mist corrosion that was rife inside Arcee's weakened mind was slowing eating her up. Just as it had the first Autobot way back in the holding cell. The seems of her body were bleeding rust stained and sickly looking energon.

She stirred weakly, staring with one eye as Jack came up, cloaked as Megatron.

"Who are _you_?" she whispered. The other orange and brown Autobot's parted for him and he came forward the rest of the way.

"Is he our relief?" She said in a weak voice, looking up at her friends. Jack decided to kneel down, ignoring their stares, and reaching out, he took her hand. She blinked at him with her one eye, the other side of her pretty face a twisted ruin of metal. She looked afraid, staring at his massive hand where it closed around her own.

"I'm a friend." Jack said simply, a sudden lump in his throat.

"Have you come to help?" She looked up again, the light of her body flickering.

"Yes." Jack answered. "I'm here to help."

She slipped her hand out of Jack's then, and reached up to press it against his chest. It tickled slightly where she touched him and her one eye blinked a few times. After a moment she spoke.

"You look mean. But you don't _feel _mean." She whispered softly, the working half of her face drawing into a little frown of curiosity. Jack was getting used to hearing that, but he wasn't sure if he was prepared to kneel here and watch this one die. But what else could he do? He didn't trust his voice. He just closed his massive hand back over hers, patting it softly against his chest.

"I'm a friend." He smiled again.

Even as he looked on, she was fading out, growing ever weaker, a dry clicking coming from her throat. She shuddered, her mouth open. struggling to focus on him, fighting to say something more. A question perhaps. But she was failing fast.

"I'll...I'll make it better." Was all Jack could manage to say, lamely, as he looked into her one golden eye where it clung to life. But even as he said it, she died staring up at him. And to his shock, the moment her body grew still, the corrosion finished zipping through her system. Her colored faded instantly and she turned into a rusty brown powder right under his hands, making him stumble forward with a cry as she dissolved into nothing. Just like before.

"Oh, _God_!" Jack cried out. A long moment passed as he knelt there with both his hands pressed flat to her pallet.

"No." he whispered, his heart hurting him. Finally, he looked up at the others, who all stared back at him sadly.

Even Twenty. Who then did a strange thing. He reached out and touched Jack, and he kept his hand there as a few others did the same. Jack straightened up and slowly got to his feet, turning in a slow circle as the smaller Autobot's all crowded forward, most of them coming up just to his chest. And those that could, reached out to touch him, staring up at him with seeking eyes and just letting themselves feel who he was.

"I t_old _you." One beamed happily, his hand gripping Jack's arm.

"He's not Purple!"

**ooo**

But this unique little moment was suddenly shattered when another female Autobot let out a little scream of alarm, pointing towards the horizon. At once, all the others stopped their awestruck examination of Jack and turned as a single unit, breaking up and hefting their weapons.

Jack turned to look himself and he couldn't make it out, but it looked like a portion of cloud had dropped to the ground from the sky above. A tornado? But no, a minute later and he could see it. It wasn't a tornado, it was a detachment of snakes and scarabs and more of those nightmare things. Dropping down out of a funnel in the sky and capering about on the ground.

Then, spotting the Autobots in return, they let out a screech of delight and started for them, in a wave, rolling over the very ground. The wind picked up suddenly. It blew away the rust ashes of the dead Autobot girl.

"Shit!" Jack hissed as he watched this coming for them.

"Incoming!" Twenty cried. "Take up positions!" He called as the Autobots scattered in all directions. He called out to one of his fellows. "How much time?"

"Six minutes until pick up!" The Autobot called. "They're ahead of us!" he cried, meaning the snakes, and hefting his weapon he made for the firing line. Jack noticed he had some kind of communications array on his back.

"You have a ship coming?" Jack called out to Twenty in the growing wind.

"It's too far away!" Twenty cried, looking up at the sky. Jack realized a smaller female Autobot was standing perfectly still, still watching him. She hadn't scattered with the rest. And when he looked down at her, the first thing he noticed was that she was staring at him with glowing cobalt blue eyes.

"Jesus!" Jack blinked, staring back at her. "Arcee!?"

But then the young girl blinked once and the blue light of her eyes was gone. She was moving then, hefting her weapon and making ready to follow Twenty.

Jack stopped her.

"Arcee? Is that you?"

"I am three of three." She answered, clearly confused and staring up at him with her golden eyes. "Will you help us now, Jackson?"

And she trotted past him to fall in with the others. Jack held still. Whatever had just happened, when they had all been touching him and feeling him for what it was, somehow, in some way, someone else had taken notice. Just for an instant. Someone with cobalt blue eyes.

And they had looked out through one of these 'antibody' soldiers directly at him.

_And they saw Megatron. Great. But then...maybe they saw the real me, too. _

Jack looked up at the sky, which was now cutting loose with some real wind. Pellets of slag and grains of steel rust trickled down from the sky, along with scattered droplets of oily energon, as if it all threatened a heavier rain.

"It's me!" Jack cried to the clouds. But no one answered him.

"Jackson!" Twenty cried, running back over to him. "Will you help us?" He asked, no longer questioning what his eyes told him. Now he looked exactly like what he was. A young, scared, Autobot squad leader facing three times his own numbers. Each one of them a rabid monster up to twice the size of any of his people.

Jack turned to see they didn't have more than a few minutes before the tide of evil reached this place.

"Twenty, listen to me. Tell your ship to step on it and get your people ready to get out of here."

"What are _you_ going to do?" Twenty stared at him.

"I'm going to show those things just what kind of _purple_ I really am."


	63. Xar-7

**Xar-7**

You could say Jack Darby was no hero. Or a leader. In truth, he wasn't even a warrior in the technical sense. And he would have been the first one to admit it. He had no desire to chase personal glory like a hero, and he lacked the conviction of a leader. And that wasn't so much from a lack of character, but more for how he didn't wish to be responsible for someone's life. Anyone's life. So he was never one to take charge or lead from the front, for deep in his heart he could not accept the risk. To him, if his failure meant costing someone their life, on the whole he felt it wasn't worth it to try. The means did not justify the ends. Let someone else make the hard call!

But you would be wrong to think this made him a coward. And while he wasn't a warrior, lacking any special skill or training, he _was_ a fighter. Some would say there is no difference between the two, but there is. For a fighter is ready at any time to do what it takes to keep himself alive. How is that different from a warrior or a soldier you say? A fighter is on his own. And from a certain point of few, it could be said he lacks the _bias_ of training and the _limits_ of command. Because in his mind, he is only risking _himself _and so he's not thinking about anything else but what it takes to get the job done. And without any reasonable training, his methods can be a little unorthodox, though effective The only disadvantage to be had is that he may be an unwilling combatant...but that doesn't mean he's not a force to be reckoned with. Especially when he sets his mind to it.

And Jack Darby was a pretty good fighter.

Now, impressive it would be to make a good fighter into a great warrior. Maybe even a leader. But for now, 'Jack' was all Jack had.

And having Megatron's avatar didn't hurt, either.

**ooo**

The snakes, scarabs and nightmares tore across the scarred ground at full speed. What murderous intent drove them had instilled a love for carnage in their minds as well. As if slaughter and battle were a drug that they lusted for at all times. And at this moment they were almost gleeful. They capered and chittered in delight, spontaneously leaping along in the air as they charged, enticing their fellows to charge even harder around them in wave of attackers fifty strong. They would strike the undermanned contingent of Autobots like a cannon ball.

But someone had different ideas about that.

He was called Xar-7. And he was first generation strand. A massive dragonsnake who was a progenitor of thousands, grown in size and battle scarred after all these cycles spent in the virus war. What was more, since he was first generation, each new phase of adaptive development in the code had imbued him with new knowledge and awareness to a point that he was almost sentient. At least, it could be taken as such, as he and his kind of first-gen strands commanded the newer broad in a form of hierarchy.

He wasn't self aware in the sense of knowing where he was in the great fabric of reality. But he knew who had created him, for Airachnid's dark spark was at the heart of the virus matrix. And he knew _what_ he was in how he delighted in performing his assigned task. Kill the Autobot. This was all that drove him. And his pleasure centers were lit up for the dark mistress in how he performed this task for her, sharing her hatred, and her memories, of the one they worked to consume.

Xar-7 was so long lived, inside_ this _world, that he was capable of individual thought. And he fully intended to be there at the end. When they chased the one called Arcee to ground. After they dragged down the last of her soldiers, they would find her and he would be there. He would feast! And in his eagerness, he pulled ahead of the pack, roaring to shake the ground as his massive jointed body crushed a few lesser hunters under him.

It mattered not. For every hunter the Autobots ahead of him managed to slay, two more would take it's place. And Xar-7 would be there when they rose again, to lead them, and guide them to the slaughter.

He was the first one who spotted Megatron.

The nightmares smelled him too, and out of all the pack, they slowed in their charge, whining in consternation as they caught the alien scent on the air.

The scarabs and snakes charged ahead, blind with lust, even as Xar-7 squinted at the far off figure running towards them. He fell back too, his savage brain able to comprehend that something strange was happening.

_What did this mean? What was happening?_

**ooo**

Jack, as Megatron, ran towards the charging wave of virus hunters with a crate of mortar rounds under one arm. There would be no finesse to what he had in mind. It was just going to be simple, flat out whoop-ass.

Without breaking stride, he hefted the crate in his arms, the weight negligible for one such as Megatron, and then with a grating roar that echoed more of the Decepticon tyrant, than it did Jack Darby, he straight armed the explosives right at the center of the wave of attackers.

To his credit, so mighty was his throw, the crate traveled like a bullet, rotating slowly in the air as it burned a straight line towards dead center. Jack meanwhile, had skidded to a halt and steadied his aim, chasing the crate with several powerful blasts of his fusion cannon, trusting more to dumb-luck than any kind of accuracy.

As is always the case, you either fail miserably or succeed spectacularly. And incredibly, this time, the Gods of luck favored little ol' Jack.

One shot clipped the crate on one corner and burst it open. And a second blast caught a shell dead center as the crate scattered it's contents in the air. The result was a change reaction of explosions that actually fanned _outward_, just as the charging virus hunters reached the crate. They ran right into it the blast. And the resulting explosion gutted the center of their line in a rippling wave of blue energon that scattered them and broke the charge.

"Holy shit." Jack blinked at his handiwork, watching a few smaller bodies rain back down to the earth, trailing smoke as the massive explosion echoed in the air. He had felt it in his chest. A real eye-opener. Grinning despite himself, as he listened to the cheers of the Autobots behind him, Jack just straightened up and stared for a moment. Then he noticed that not all of the virus-hunters were dead and what survivors there were were making right for him, screeching in rage.

He opened fire again, methodically, walking forward to meet them and aiming for the bigger ones, snapping out his warblade for the moment he had to deal with the smaller ones.

Those toothy little bastards, the ones with no eyes called 'nightmares', they were fastest. And as they scuttled ahead, a few of them stopped abruptly again. Once again they had caught his alien scent, and even though they couldn't see him, it was apparent that he did indeed register as a threat. Airachnid's code recognition ran deep.

Jack smiled to himself.

_ It still works! I can do this. I can do this!_

"Run, you little bastards!" He snarled, hitting a charging scarab dead center and blowing it apart.

But Xar-7 didn't run.

He had survived the blast, even though it had knocked him down, and he had whipped back up to attack position, coiling himself in check as the smoke cleared, and searching for the lone warrior who had done the deed. The he heard more shots. And, enraged, he had come through the smoke, down and up the other side of the crater, rearing up into the air and screaming his challenge. Jack's eyes went wide as he saw Xar-7 come up out of the crater and crash back down in front of him. He had never seen such a massive dragonsnake and it's body shook the very ground when it landed. Then it spotted him and immediately surged ahead with powerful coils of it's body, knocking aside lesser hunters or crushing them under.

"Whoa!" Jack cried, shifting his fire to Xar-7. But despite it's size, this one was fast. It's eyes blazed with uncanny intelligence, and it actually ducked the shots, jinking and weaving around them with a hiss as it charged at him.

The last few yards, it lunged, striking like a snake, and only a quick duck saved Jack as jaws massive enough to close around his chest slammed shut just over his shoulder. The sound was deafening this close, the bite slamming shut with such force it made his ears ring.

He punched at it with his warblade, intending to ram it straight through the monster's skull, but Xar-7 ducked _his_ attack, And instead the thing rammed him the chest with it's head, flipping him up into the air like a doll. A second later, and it slashed it's thirty meter long tail into Jack and whipped him back into the ground with bone-breaking force.

Back in the base, he spit blood.

**ooo**

"Get him _out _of there!" June screamed. Neither Fowler nor Prime were there to restrain her this time, and it took two reluctant technicians to hold her at bay. Michael Blackrock stood his ground though, unafraid and coolly collected, his voice cutting through her frantic shouting.

"You're only making it worse! _Calm_ _down_! I need those people back on station rather than fighting _you_!" He was truly angry, looking over to Ratchet for assistance. The old Autobot medic came forward and for the first time ever, he physically restrained one of the human members of team Prime.

"Miss Darby!" He said sharply, but she barely heard him, slamming both her fists down onto Ratchet's hand where he had imposed it between her and Blackrock. "Control yourself!" he cried.

Blackrock turned back to his three teams, the two technicians scrambling for their seats, and it was only then that he noticed Miko. She had come up behind him, off his left elbow, and he jumped a little as he noticed her standing there. Turning to her now, he could see the fury in her eyes and the pale intensity of her face. But the unnerving thing was, was that she hadn't moved. Nor had she made a sound. She was watching the fight.

Blackrock stared at her, his eyebrows drawing down into a frown.

"Are you going to be difficult, too?" He clipped. Strangely, she didn't look at him. She just slowly shook her head, her two hands curled into fists at her side. She still didn't look away from the screen.

**ooo**

Jack pushed himself up with a groan, phantom pain from his far off battered body actually making _Megatron's _body ache. And now he knew he was in a fight for his life.

Before either one of them could continue the fight though, two smallish nightmares blurred out of the haze of smoke and rust around them and leapt on Jack.

But he was in no mood for anything subtle. With a fist, he smashed one to the ground, obliterating it's skull, and the second he grabbed in mid air, his hand closing over it's wide grotesque metal nostril. Which he promptly crushed.

The thing scream in machine code pain and Jack pulled his arm back and flung it at Xar-7 as the massive snake came gliding up. He didn't wait to see what would happen, rolling out of the way and scrambling to his feet.

But Xar-7 had caught the unfortunate little missile in his jaws and he crushed it with one massive bite. Then he spit out, his head swinging back around to stare at Jack, an unnerving intelligence burning in those purple eyes. It was like the damn thing was staring at him as if it knew who he was. Slowly, it's wide reptilian mouth spread in a malicious grin. The purple blood of it's own kind ran down it's fangs. And somehow Jack could hear words in his mind. Like the scratching of glass on a sheet of steel.

"_Megatron._" It hissed. It knew him. It recognized him. And it _wasn't _afraid. In fact, it seemed to grow in fury.

"_Megatrooon_!" It screeched in Jack's mind again, flinging the entirety of it's body at Jack and bearing him back down to the ground. Jack was lucky enough to seize it by the neck, just under the jaws, but this left his body exposed and Xar-7 immediately wrapped him up in thick coils. The embrace nearly brought them face to face and purple eyes blazed into purple eyes as they glared at each other.

Jack's mechanical muscles heaved as he tried to keep those massive jaws away from his face, yet Xar-7 slowly managed to open them wide, cackling in machine code as it burned more words into his mind.

"_We do not know how. We do not care. But if you are here, you will die too. It matters not to the mistress._"

Jack was wheezing, his chest hurting him as he tried to crush the thing's throat, even as it struggled to crush _him_.

"_Fuck you_!" He snarled, spitting in rage, blackness dancing at the corners of his vision.

Xar-7 tried to bite but Jack was just managing to ruin it's aim, pushing with Megatron's arms and craning his neck, so that the massive jaws slammed into the ground to the left of his head. Then back again and down to the right, before the thing finally pulled back and hissed at him anew, Jack's hands desperately holding it at bay by the neck. Ropey trails of oily lubricant drizzled from it's fangs, dripping on Jack's chest as he and the massive first generation dragonsnake struggled to overcome one another.

Xar-7 knew his foe was weakening. He could feel it. He only knew Megatron by the black echo of memory inherited from his creator, and he was disgusted that there had been anything to fear. _This_ was a foe of greater threat? Ha! This one was a weakling! He began to gloat, caring not who it was he crushed, but reveling again in the deed of murder.

"_Dark mistress. The mistress is all. She is everything. This world is hers_." It cackled, it's laughter the same haunting hyena chortle that set Jack's teeth on edge. "_You are nothing_."

"I'm the one who _killed _the whore." Jack spat back, feeling his very bones flex as Xar-7 coiled around him. "You precious bitch-mistress!" He growled. But Xar-7's bestial mentality wouldn't let it rise to the bait. All it did was cackle. And _squeeze_. Jack groaned. It was getting hard for him to breathe.

"_Is that all you have to say_?" The thing crowed silently in his mind, it's eyes blazing into his own.

"You know what?" Jack gasped.

And suddenly his hands slipped from around Xar-7's neck. Pressing downward like this, straining to bite him, the thing's head lunged forward like a released spring. But with one last burst of strength, Jack just managed to just duck his head to the side.

At the same time he lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Xar-7's neck.

And with every ounce of strength he could muster, he hugged the thing to him, pulling it's head right down onto Megatron's spiked shoulder armor. It crunched in beautifully, up through the soft under-jaw, and Xar-7 immediately convulsed and wailed in Jack's mind, thrashing around and trying to pull away as Jack relentlessly pulled downward, slowly impaling it.

"You_ talk_ too much!" Jack hissed in it's ear. It screeched in his mind terribly now and reared up into the air, taking him with it, Jack squeezing his eyes shut tight and holding on for all he was worth. Either one would give or the other and the massive dragonsnake suddenly uncoiled from around him, desperate to shake him loose. He continued to pull down, grinding the spike in as the monster began slamming him against the ground in a panicked fury. But Jack held on, letting the thing tear itself up even more from the effort. He was determined not to black out.

Xar-7's thrashing began to weaken as thick purple slime poured out of the bottom of it's impaled head and splattered everywhere. It tried one last time to raise Jack up and slam him down, but it lacked the strength and Jack bore it down with _his_ weight now, choking it to the ground. Finally, as it slumped over onto it's side, shuddering in it's death throws, Jack tore the shoulder spike free and reared up from under it's bulk. He raised Megatron's warblade high and slammed it right down through the base of Xar-7's neck, pinning it's head to the ground.

With a weak, dying warble, Xar-7 screamed a final time, it's purple eyes flickering.

"_Dark mistress_! _The mistress_!" it screeched wordlessly.

"Is that all you have to say?" Jack snarled mockingly. "She can't hear you." He growled and then he wrenched down on the warblade with all his might, cutting the thing's head clean off with a wet crunch of metal. It's long body shuddered once...and then it grew still. The glowing purple eyes faded to black in the massive elongated skull.

Jack had no idea what condition he was in, either here or there, but he was still standing. He looked up, seeing the last remaining virus hunters watching him intently, just at the edges of the battle.

He still didn't have anything heroic to say, but lacking anything better to do, he _kicked_ the severed head of Xar-7 towards them, making them jump back. And then he stood there, bent over with his hands on his knees and breathing hard. Tired, but unafraid.

"Well? Which of you maggots is next?" He spat. And at that, taking one look over Jack's shoulder, the half dozen virus hunters turned and fled, scrambling into rents and tears in the ground and disappearing. It suddenly made him sick, seeing that. That and his own analogy, standing out here in what amounted to Arcee's brain. But he fought down his nausea and turned to see the Autobots all coming towards him.

They were cheering, whooping and hollering and shaking their weapons in the air.

Jack decided now was a better time than ever. He straightened up, catching his breath and shaking off his fatigue as they came up and crowded around him.

"Now you see I am not purple." he said gravely. "Now you see I am here to help. But I don't have time to fight like this. I _have_ to find Arcee."

A few stared at him, frowning in their confusion and listening to his words while others cheerfully surveyed the scene of his triumph, making exclamations at the massive beheaded body of the dragonsnake. About them all, the wind picked up even harder and Jack motioned at the sky.

"They'll be back. And in greater numbers. We're running out of time. Do _any _of you know who I am talking about?" Jack groaned. "Don't you recognize her name?"

More stares, a few small shakes of the head from a few individuals. Twenty was there, with the communications trooper, and as he made to speak, a ship swooped down out of the clouds. A transport.

All the Autobots looked up, obvious relief flooding through them. The ship was a simple, blocky looking hovercraft with stunted wings, over powered engines and a tapered nose. It looked like a flying triangle that in some ways was rather appealing with it's brown and orange colored armor. There was even a cockpit, and one could see the two Autobot pilots at the helm.

But as it swooped in overhead, Jack could see the pitted and patched hull, showing it's run down state. Twenty spared it one glance and then he took Jack by the arm. Number One was there too, his eyes eager and excited.

"Come with us, Jackson!" Twenty cried. "There may be one who can help!"

And the craft touched down deftly, lowering a ramp and allowing the small Autobot contingent to pile inside. As Jack ducked his head and made for the craft, he realized it was bigger than he had thought at first. It was meant to hold ten times the number of Autobots it was picking up.

He went up the ramp as the wind howled, leaving behind the battlefield and wondering what was coming next, as the ship lifted up...and headed back into the clouds.

_**Thank you all for the reviews and how you continue to follow this story. I appreciate it and hope you're enjoying it. Stay tuned! - Prander**_


	64. The Rabbit Hole

**The Rabbit Hole **

Jack wasn't exactly comfortable being idolized. As the transport sped on it's way, buffeted by the turbulent storm clouds, he couldn't help but notice that the Autobots around him were acting a little awestruck. Every time Jack happened to look left, or right for that matter, the row of Autobots seated there would quickly act as if they hadn't been staring at him. But they had. And they were pretty lousy at acting otherwise, what with all their heads turning away from him in unison.

And not for the first time, the sheer scale of how surreal all this was came back to his thoughts. It was like something out of a Cybertronian Alice In Wonderland. Here he was strapped into a one of a kind prototype cortical machine, in a see through body stocking no less, diving into the mind of an intergalactic living machine, a fourteen foot female who just happened to be his partner/lover, to find and rescue her while fighting off a bio-engineered virus designed to kill her by her long time nemesis, all the while cloaked in the body of a massive Decepticon tyrant. And he just so happened to have found himself riding along in an Autobot transport with these brown and orange 'antibody' soldiers who acted like he was some kind of celebrity.

Did he miss anything?

As he sat there cleaning purple ichor off his armor with a scrap of rag, Jack shook his head and looked up again, only to see the line of Autobots to his left look away from him once more. He slowly shifted his eyes to the right, suddenly turned his head, and the row on other side did the same thing as well. It was just too oddball for him at the moment.

He sighed and went back to the task at hand, checking Megatron's avatar as best he could.

These antibody Autobots were hard to figure. He supposed their world made perfect sense to them, but they were governed by rules that he couldn't possibly understand. In truth, he had expected something a little more...official? Was that the word he was looking for? Instead he found nothing but over-matched and out-gunned youngsters looking at the war in the simplest of terms. They judged their adversaries, Airachnid's bio-virus, and anything else not of themselves as_ purple_. That simple. Just a name. A name of a color. It was a little disconcerting. Didn't they understand? Weren't they part of Arcee's whole? Why didn't they recognize her name? He knew they recognized death and loss and they had shown themselves to be cautious and guarded, but it was almost like an after-thought. They didn't really seem to be...real. It was like he was fighting inside a video game.

And since his communications were down, he couldn't begin to ask anyone back home. Was this simplicity the result of the VR matrix? Or was all this nothing more than Arcee's natural immune system? Like white blood cells? And if that was the case, was there anything stronger out there? Or was the naivete of Arcee's defenses a bad sign? How could he possibly begin to know what to do or even the questions to ask? And how much time did he have left?

A hundred questions that had no answer.

It was then that Jack noticed Twenty and One sitting next to the communications trooper, the Autobot he had seen earlier who carried a hefty channel array built into the armor on his back. They were talking quietly among each other and Jack figured now was as good a time as any.

When he stood up and came down the walkway that separated the two rows of seats, all eyes were upon him. And two other Autobots quickly vacated their seats so Jack could sit his formidable frame down across from the other three. They stared at him now with a touch of awe and excitement.

The Autobot designated 'One of Five' practically beamed with it, delightedly rubbing his hands on his knees and smiling openly. Apparently he felt a certain measure of celebrity himself, having been the first one to encounter the Jackson.

"Do you need anything, Jackson?" Twenty asked. Jack shook his head and turned to the communications trooper. The Autobot stiffened, his back going straight as if he was under the scrutiny of a General.

"Do you mind?" Jack said, motioning at the backpack, and at a bit of a loss, the Autobot leaned forward and turned in his seat so that Jack could see his communications array.

"If any of you can hear me, I hope you can see this. He's a communications trooper." Jack said, turning the set slightly towards him and trying to dope out the controls. "Do you see this? Communications. Can you hear me?" he repeated, tapping the set with a finger. The communications trooper looked up at Twenty with a curious expression on his face and the young leader of this contingent of Autobots leaned forward a little.

"Yes. We can hear you, Jackson. How can we help?"

Jack sat back, letting the communications trooper do the same. All three of them gave him a blank stare.

"E.T. needs to phone home." Jack sighed.

**ooo**

"Can we use that?" Blackrock pointed, looking up at Dr. Nakamura as he leaned over one of the VR consoles. Five of the seven screens belonging to the program experts were busy breaking down a certain block of code that represented the communications Autobot Jack was in contact with. It was a dazzling blue-crystal lattice of numbers on their screen, unlike anything they had seen before, and they were desperately trying to figure out how to 'hijack' him more or less so they could get a word in to Jack.

It was Jack himself who had given them the idea and they had been working on it ever since he had spotted that particular trooper before the battle. Now Jack was inside the ship, being taken somewhere, and sitting right across from the trooper, making it clear he had the same idea again. He was tapping the set and saying something but they couldn't hear him. And the Autobots, they were saying something in return, clearly puzzled. It was all rather frustrating.

Dr. Nakamura pointed to where Blackrock had, talking quickly to his people, none of them even pausing in their work. They kept right at it, hurried but not frantic, and this gave Blackrock a moment to straighten up and ease the kink out of his back. He looked around for a minute, watching and studying as he always did.

If they could, they would certainly talk to Jack, although privately Blackrock had no real idea what they would even say. As to that, he was leaving it to Rafael and Ratchet and one of the seven experts to come up with something. The three of them had their heads together over at the Tempest Signal station, trying to puzzle out these brown and orange Autobot 'antibodies' and what it all meant as a whole. The one in the holding cell, the poor bastard who had rotted away. He hadn't left much to go on when it came to the video files. But the trio had been working on it ever since Jack had made contact again.

All things being equal, the truth was that Jack probably had more to tell them, than they him. They were absolutely clueless to the meaning of anything they were seeing in there, although Ratchet seemed to have some thoughts on the matter. Here's hoping he felt like sharing with the whole class once he and Rafael knocked something together. As for what they _did_ know, Jack's body had taken a bit of a pounding. He had suffered nothing short of a kind of kinetic trauma that one experiences from diving too high into water.

A cortical belly-flop, as it was, that left no broken bones, but had stressed a few key ligaments in his torso and given him a bloody nose. The pressure changes were what did it. That was why he had spit blood. Not to mention the muscle spasms from combat building up lactic acid in his body. But thankfully, that was the worst of it. Apparently the VR matrix shielded him to a greater degree when he was struck by something innate in the program. Something from Arcee's mindscape. Or in this instance, when he happened to be slammed against it. Was that the built in safety measures of the program? Or something else? Who could say?

They had all witnessed the battle with that massive dragonsnake and had been braced for the worst. But now? Well, they could only suppose that Arcee's mind did not willingly translate damage back to Jack as Airachnid's virus was clearly designed to do. So if they could avoid any actual wounds, and if possible any more fighting, Jack was looking at something amounting to running a marathon before all this was over.

He was going to be sore in the morning. Blackrock resolved to tell him that if he got the chance.

Then there was the moment when that massive dragonsnake had _squeezed_ Jack. And as his medical readout lit up with the pressure, June had nearly went into hysterics. Theoretically he could have suffered serious injury, but again the VR matrix intervened. The crash couch was designed with a fail-safe that counter-compensated for any extreme pressure shifts. A safety measure that wouldn't allow it to apply any inordinate of pressure to the pilot, no matter what the circumstances were. In a sense, the VR4 didn't appreciate the actions of Airachnid's dragonsnake and it refused to break Jack's bones for her.

What a way to learn the ropes. But it did give Jack a small measure of durability. And they needed all the help they could get.

Speaking of which, one fortunate turn of events was that Optimus had returned only moments after Jack had triumphed. Somehow, this had calmed June considerably. Perhaps she felt that Prime's very presence could prevent anything further from happening to her son. But she must have known that wasn't feasible. So why this incredible amount of unquestioning faith in Prime? Going beyond the team's natural reverence of him? She had almost cried. Did that speak of a kind of...bond? Or was it more akin to the impulses of a parent? Blackrock had watched her go to Optimus and the two of them had talked quietly for several minutes. Yes, he was sure of it. She was acting like a woman who was glad her husband had come home.

Interesting.

"Sir, we think we might have a working solution now. We're ready to try it." Dr. Nakamura spoke softly to him and Blackrock came out of his musings, turning back with a slightly tired smile.

"Well then...shall we?" He stepped back to the console and looked over at Rafael and Ratchet. Rafael slipped out of his chair at Blackrock's summons and he came over to stand next to him. Ratchet just waited from where he had knelt down, poised on one knee.

"Any thoughts on...anything? Before we try and contact Jack?" Blackrock smiled calmly, hoping to encourage some of that working-genius Rafael could produce. But the younger man looked a little crestfallen.

"All we can say for sure is that for Jack to be in contact with these antibodies means that he may actually have made it through what could be called the 'territory' of Airachnid's virus. The new Tempest Signal shows that Arcee's mind, and these antibodies, are not broken up into any major clusters, but in fact are defending a defined space. We're hoping they're taking him there now because they seem to be consolidating."

"Well, that sounds hopeful. And can you add anything about what we are seeing here, Doctor? Do you recognize any of them or anything around them?" Blackrock looked up at Ratchet.

"However Arcee's compromised mind is being shown to us, it is distinctly different from Bumblebee's." Ratchet answered. "But the clue is in the appearance of these antibody soldiers. In a way I think you may find alarming."

"Go on."

"They are of a type of Autobot no longer seen on Cybertron. An old configuration. _Very_ old, in fact. And what the young Rafael and I believe is, that if this is how the VR matrix is interpreting the memory state of Arcee's mind, she has been forcibly pushed back into her own memories like the layers of a cake."

"I see."

"This is how she has resisted the virus, being made to retreat farther and farther into her own mind. And if that proves to be true, even if Jack does find her, there's a very good chance she might not even recognize him. So not only do we _not_ know how he will manage to bring her out of this, but the odds will be stacked against him in the trying."

Blackrock turned and looked up at the screen.

"And there's more." Ratchet sighed, shifting around to look up at the screen himself. "There's a much better chance that she _will _recognize Megatron."

"And that could be...well, real bad." Rafael added.

Blackrock looked down at the console nearest him, pressing a key just long enough to check something he was curious about.

The amount of viable mindscape, even as he watched, clicked from five percent to four. He looked up at Rafael who stood there, filled with apprehension.

"Alright, let's get Jack on the line, then."

**ooo**

"_Jack_? _Do you read_? _Can you hear us_?"

When a green light lit up on the troopers communications array and he suddenly stiffened in his seat, his eyes clicking over to a pale white light, Twenty and One turned to him in open shock, completely perplexed and rather alarmed. Even as they watched, his mouth dropped open and the trooper spoke to Jack without moving his lips, simply broadcasting the words out into the air like a crackling old radio.

"_Repeat_. _Jack can you hear us_?"

Jack sat forward, quickly holding up a hand up to calm Twenty and One.

"Yes! Yes, I can hear you. Can you hear me?" he said.

"_Yes_." Blackrock's tinny voice sounded just as relieved.

"It's me. Jackson. Do you understand? _Jackson_." he stressed the name. There was a moment of white noise and then Blackrock's voice dialed back in. Jack thought he could hear Rafael speaking in the background and for that he was glad.

"_Understood._"

"It's good to hear you. How are we doing?"

"_We could ask that of you_."

"Well, has the video feed been working?"

"_Yes. We've been watching the whole time, but no audio_."

"How am I doing in the couch?"

"_You're gonna be sore in the morning_."

"How's my mom?" Jack pursed his lips. There was another pause of white noise.

"_Composed_." Blackrock replied. But even over this connection Jack could hear the underlying tension in the man's voice.

"I still have your promise." he prompted.

"_You do_."

"How's the avatar holding up?"

"_Nominal. He doesn't bruise or get tired_."

"I can't feel anything, you know. And I can't hear anything with my ears. How come?"

"_Signal depth. You're in deep. On top of everything else, your body has gone into what amounts to an REM sleep. But we expected that. As for the rest? Well...any chance you can keep this com-trooper close to you_?"

"I doubt it." Jack looked up at the other two, who were exchanging glances with each other, Jack and the com-trooper too. But they didn't look as alarmed as before. They just looked confused.

"Barring everything else, how long can I stay in so deep?" Jack went on.

"_If you're worrying about going unconscious or something, don't. We're pretty solid in that regard. Your biometrics are doing better than your body is_."

"Do you think going this deep will effect the main signal integrity like it has the audio?" Jack asked a rather astute question.

"_Safeguards are in place for that. You won't crash-out. And your active on your own signal band, anyway. It's the interference around you that's fouls up the audio when the VR matrix translates it all back to us_."

"Any idea why?"

"_It means there's an awful of trouble makers in there. Worse with the big ones. If you know what I mean by trouble-makers_."

"Yeah...but I got past them." Jack added grimly.

"_Any idea where you're going, then_?" Blackrock replied.

Jack looked over at Twenty again, using this moment to smooth over whatever apprehensions these strange Autobots may have had.

"They're taking me to see someone they think can help. And maybe then _I_ can help them."

One of Five beamed, nudging Twenty of Twenty in the arm. Twenty had actually been waving his hand in front of the com-trooper's white-washed eyes, his expression curious. And for a moment, as he looked on, the two of them reminded Jack of raw recruits. He wanted to say more about it, but didn't want to push his luck. He turned back to the set.

"_Do you think it's Arcee they're taking you to see?"_ Blackrock asked a little quickly.

"No, they don't seem to recognize her. So is there anything _you_ can tell me? What I'm looking at here, or what I should do? What to look for? Anything at all?"

"_It might help to know that the VR matrix is shielding you from the worst of any kinetic damage you might suffer in there. But don't go jumping out of any planes_." Blackrock paused. "_And_ _Ratchet and Rafael feel that Arcee's subconscious mind has retreated deeper into her memory core. What aspects there are of Cybertron that manifest around you are hard to pinpoint, but your new found friends are...dated_."

"What does that mean?"

"_Wherever she is in her head, she's so far back, it's unlikely she will know you at all. Or Earth_."

Jack held still, his stomach suddenly tingling.

"_But she may recognize your avatar_." Blackrock added cautiously.

"Yeah, I get it." Jack's lips were a tight line. "So, that being said, how much time do I have?"

"_You know that point in the movies where the people in control tell the hero that he better hurry?_"

"Terrific" Jack mumbled, fighting to keep the angst off his face. The com-trooper suddenly seemed to bleed through more white noise than Blackrock's voice.

"..._aking up_." Blackrock's voice said once more.

Jack had nothing to say. It would take a week's answer or none at all. And all his ideas and theories in here wouldn't do him any good if he couldn't find Arcee. All he held onto was that her Autobot trooper 'antibodies' hadn't attacked him. That they had somehow seen through him and had taken him into their fold. One of them had even looked at him with bright blue eyes. That had to mean something, right? As for the rest of it...absolutely nothing, in every way, shape and form, was for certain. Not until he found her.

He wasn't about to give up.

And then Twenty pointed towards the open cockpit. Jack turned and looked, up between the two pilots and out the cockpit window.

"Oh, wow." He whispered. Even as he spoke, Blackrock's signal was suddenly cut and the com-trooper blinked once, his eyes clicking back to golden yellow and he slumped back in his seat with a grunt. But neither Jack, One, or Twenty were looking at him.

What was up ahead had their full attention. And even as he watched, Jack realized his earlier thoughts about Alice in Wonderland were wrong.

This may have been the rabbit hole, but there was a war at the bottom.


	65. War

**War**

As the transport broke through the rolling, vaporous clouds, a great landscape opened up before them. And it would have been difficult to describe it. Words, despite their power, may have fallen short of being able to envision it. For as Jack and his three unlikely allies watched from behind the pilot seats, he beheld a machine planet at war.

As far as his eyes could see, two lines of color clashed along a front that was lit up with light and sound. And at first it could have been called beautiful, if those flashes of light had not resolved themselves into massive explosions, shaking the very air, along with the rippling current of blaster fire rolling across the ground like a white electrical discharge. Weapons fire from a million soldiers.

In a jagged line, like an erratic heartbeat, this massive contest continued under a starless sky that was sick with bruise colored clouds that spit green static-lightning in the air. And the two lines themselves were an orange/brown line of color, beset by a gangrenous line of black and purple that reflected the greenish hue from the sky above.

Jack knew in an instant that he was witnessing the full frontal fury of Airachnid's virus attacking Arcee's immune system. And her mind. And the grainy scale below was actually two armies of a million, million warriors going at each other. It was staggering. He craned his neck, staring, and he realized he could not see the ends of the great armored battlements below. Massive as they were, it wasn't that they stretched beyond the horizon, it was just that the ends were covered in clouds that had reached down to the ground, belching out waves of fresh attackers. Seeing that, it gave Jack the impression that indeed Arcee's mind was being smothered. This battle front, perhaps the last one, _was_ shrinking on three sides The earlier war inside here these last few weeks must have been beyond imagining.

As it was, what was left of Arcee's mindscape, at least here in this sector, had taken shape as a vast cityscape under siege, the line of buildings behind the front line dark and deserted and fading back into the distance. It reminded Jack of Cybertron itself. Maybe it was. Taken right from Arcee's memories. But what was the most familiar about it was how there was no power. No energon. The land, the very planet, seemed to be bled of it, the cityscape ominously covered in shadow. But at least here the Autobots were making a stand, and perhaps somewhere down there, Arcee was waiting for him.

"What's that sound?" Jack asked, steadying himself as the tough old transport rode out the turbulence. But then he realized he could _hear _the battle, even from here. And this reminded him that there were far from home free. They were high, high up in the sky. Fighting turbulence and powering their way down over the battle to make a desperate stab for their own lines.

Jack took a second look, noting that there were other transports breaking through the clouds as well, all around them. Dozens of them. Hundreds. As if Arcee's body was marshaling the last of her defenses in one spot. He was surprised to see some other ships that looked like fighters and bombers were here as well, swooping down to attack the massed purple horde of Airachnid's virus army.

And they weren't alone.

From out of the clouds, vortices formed, turning like great funneled worms to spew out a cloud of flies at the attacking Autobots. But the flies were winged dragonsnakes, that screeched in the air as they soared aloft on razor tipped wings to meet the descending Autobot ships.

"Holy shit!" Jack hissed. The two Autobot pilots cried out in alarm as a black and purple shape whooshed past an armored window.

"We got incoming!" Twenty shouted. He had turned back to the two rows of seats, calling out to his people, and Jack turned around himself just in time to witness an incredible thing.

The Autobot troops all slammed their palms down on a recessed panel, and an armored cage unfolded from the backs of their seats and slammed down around them, locking them in. And then, incredibly, the sides of the transport actually folded back out the way, revealing the outside atmosphere whipping by. Every seat that contained an Autobot, barring the three with Jack, rotated in position and slammed out through it's own separate opening to effectively turn that trooper into a gun-pod. All of which now opened up on the dragonsnakes roiling up through the sky.

In a second the transport had transformed into a gunship, bristling with blaster rifles and heavy ordinance. And by some measure of design, this didn't impede their flight at all. In fact, with less surface area for resistance, they picked up speed, leveling out and coming in fast.

The wind roared in Jack's ears as he braced his feet, uncertain what to do and caught between the cockpit and the exposed hanger bay. Twenty stayed with him and the com-trooper, shouting something that was lost in the howl, but One jumped into his own seat and locked himself in, spinning in his chair and slamming out into position to form his own gun-pod. Jack turned to Twenty, who had just finished clipping an anchor line around Jack's waist.

Jack nodded to him and turned back to look between the two pilots again, seeing the other ships had followed suit with their transformations and a new battle was just starting.

Jack found himself caught up in the excitement of it all as both male and female Autobots began war whooping as they opened fire, their weapons linked directly to the ship's power source and apparently capable of sustaining heavier fire that way. Even as he watched, a young Autobot female splashed a dragonsnake, immolating it with crippling shots to it's back as it soared past in a curve.

"Oh, yeah!" She cried and Jack felt his heart twist in his chest, so much so did she remind him of Arcee in that moment. Then something out in the clouds caught the transport in a broadside of it's own, half a dozen purple energy beams slamming into the port side and bursting through the sparse armor. Several shots slammed through the young girl trooper's chair and she slumped over in her seat without a sound.

"Fuck!" Jack growled, standing up to his full height and trying to look around. Twenty tugged at his arm, frantic.

"Stay near the cockpit, Jackson!" He cried, his face full of concern.

**ooo**

His designation was Four of Eight and he was the last of his group. His fellows had fallen fighting three dragonsnakes earlier in the day's battle for sector A45-TN1. A sector they had lost. And now that he was in a gun-pod once again, he was elated. It was time for a little payback and Four of Eight was exceptionally good at this kind of duty. In fact, his weapon had three white rings painted around the end of the barrel. Three confirmed kills. The best in his group at this type of fighting.

He saw the shots that had hammered into Eleven of Twenty in the pod next to him, burning her down without a sound, and he resolved to avenge his pretty comrade. He decapitated one dragonsnake almost immediately with a bank shot, and a second came right at him, dead center. He blew it apart with a sneer. But then he realized, far too late, what the dragonsnake had had in mind all along. It had come down and had flown in front of a _third_ dragonsnake, blocking it's approach, and now this last one came right through the explosion of it's brethren and slammed into the side of the transport, it's long, winged arms digging in and tearing Four of Eight apart as it crushed him in his chair.

The whole craft lurched to the side, Jack and the other two Autobots reeling on their feet. They turned back to see a large, winged dragonsnake clawing and tearing it's way into the inside of the craft. A few gun-pods spun back around, the Autobots seated there meaning to blast it if they could, but the massive hunter-killer lashed out and tore them apart as well where they sat helplessly locked in their chairs. Pretty soon it would rip the ship in half, as it thrashed about in a maddened frenzy.

Jack Darby unsnapped his safety line.

**ooo**

Of course it saw him coming, and a moment was all Jack needed as the virus recognition code made the damned thing falter in it's attack. Before it could make up it's mind what to do, Jack slammed into it hard, stabbing at the thing with Megatron's warblade since he didn't have room to get in a good swing. And he sure wasn't going to risk a shot.

At best, he hoped to drive it back out of the ship, which was lurching dangerously to the side, it's engines howling. Vaguely, he knew Twenty and the Com-trooper were coming up behind him and time seemed to slow down as he fought, just like how they talked about in old war films. He noticed little details standing out starkly against the background of his surroundings. The way the wind blew away the corrosive spit from the dragonsnakes fangs. How the Autobot in the gun-pod next to him was staring up at Jack in wide-eyed shock, not more than a foot away from the titanic struggle. His eyes were huge.

Then the dragonsnake slammed it's segmented tail into Jack's face, right across his eyes, and as he hissed in pain, throwing up his arms, the wretched thing grabbed him by the chest armor and heaved itself backwards out of the ship, seeking to drag Jack right out of the troop carrier with it.

All he remembered was the Autobots behind him crying out as Megatron's claws dug deep furrows in the bent up armor of the torn open port side. Then, dizzyingly, Jack felt himself spin out into free fall, all sense of weight and balance gone in an instant. He was immediately snatched away from the ship, spiraling through the air in so many directions at once he hardly had a chance to see where it had gone. The dragonsnake clinging to him pushed off with a cackling howl and then it too was lost in the roar of wind and cloud. Gravity had him though, and the weight of Megatron's avatar slowed his spin enough that Jack saw he was falling like a brick...straight for the wrong side of the battle.

Down he went, zipping past other ships, bombers, fighters and dragonsnakes. There was hardly time to think and he felt light headed with shock. But he was high enough that he probably had a good ten seconds to enjoy the ride down before he landed in that black and purple ocean of virus hunters below.

"Oh, _fuck_ _me_!" He wailed, desperately looking around himself. Just out of the corner of one eye he saw an Autobot fighter drop down through the dogfight like a stone. At first Jack thought it was breaking up from whatever damage it had sustained, but to his utter shock, as it roared past him in a steep dive, it finished unfolding into a massive Transformer, turning in the air and catching him against it's chest a second later.

Jack blinked in surprise from the collision, grunting as the larger Autobot wrapped it's arms around him in a protective hug. He looked up at it, noting the grilled face mask and one large singular golden eye. It blurted something at him in the machine code of Cybertron as it looked over it's shoulder at the approaching ground.

"What!?" Jack gasped and then the warrior hit his thrusters, arresting their fall and taking them in a long curving arc back down to the ground, right up over the massive battlements of the Autobots line and away from that purple ocean of death.

"Holy shit!" Jack gasped as they came up and touched down almost delicately on their feet. The Autobot promptly let him go and Jack went right down on his hands and knees, Megatron's wicked avatar shaking in a most undignified manner.

"Ohhh, man. Oh, wow." Jack groaned, reaching up to clutch his stomach. He turned to say something to the transformed Autobot fighter, but just then two dragonsnakes soared overhead, their gaping mouths spitting balls of purple flame which erupted around Jack's position. Other Autobot defenses roared back in reply, from armed ground troops as well as gun-pods on the wall, but Jack's rescuer turned with a machine code curse and flipped back into the air, transforming smoothly and roaring up into the sky after them in pursuit.

Just like that, Jack was alone, climbing to his feet and wondering what was possibly going to happen next. But then a familiar transport soared down from above and touched down behind him not more than ten yards away. He turned to see Twenty, One and the Com-trooper were the first down the ramp, running towards him as a trio. There was no reproach in their faces. The young Autobot warriors looked almost as shocked as he did, but Twenty begrudgingly looked a little strained.

"I asked the Jackson to stay in the cockpit." he grimaced. The four of them were practically hunkered down in the open now, back here behind the wall, though no one was paying them any attention at the moment.

"How did...how did you...how did I..." Jack stammered. Twenty pointed at the com-trooper.

"E.T. phoned home." He said. His face was serious. He wasn't being ironic. It was more like he was trying to grasp Jack's way of speaking. The Com-trooper on the other hand beamed at Jack happily, nodding in simple enthusiastic agreement. Jack grinned at him with a shake of his head, turning back to Twenty.

"So what now!?" he shouted, getting his composure. The fighting here was growing louder, several squads of orange and brown Autobot troops rushing past to climb up the wall. For a second Jack watched them, marveling at how they formed human ladders to let their fellow climb up to the battlements on their backs before being hauled up themselves.

"You must come with me! We have to report to HQ!" Twenty shouted. Behind him, his unofficial second in command was already shepherding the remaining troops out of the transport. They were all looking over at 'The Jackson' and not knowing what else to do, Jack gave them a thumbs up. They repeated the gesture back to him, and then they were all running towards the wall to join the defenses.

"Okay, let's go." he said.

**ooo **

Jack and his three escorts picked their way along the beleaguered wall of the Autobot's defensive perimeter, avoiding pitched battles and shellfire where necessary. Apparently Twenty had gotten some word to return Jack to the Autobot HQ as soon as possible and he looked a little chagrined that they had set down farther away than he had counted on. But every time they were challenged by some grim looking Autobot champion or officer, Twenty blurted out some kind of code that let them through without a moment's delay. Slowly but surely, word was spreading along the Autobot line and more than one head was turning to watch him be escorted along.

Just as Jack began to wonder if that was a good thing or not, they came upon a section of wall that must have been breached at one point, for a veritable swarm of Autobots, having laid aside their guns, were desperately hefting up and securing steel beams that they intended to weld in place over the damaged wall itself. The moment Jack was in sight of this area, the ground beneath his feet heaved, and with a chittering wail of rage, a scarab the size of house broke up and through the ground at the bottom of the breach. The sheer momentum of it's charge scattered the Autobots, flinging their smaller bodies through the air like chafe. The scarab screeched in rage, turning to seize the welded beams and pulling them down, flinging them back at the Autobot ranks as it widened the hole for it's fellows. Jack could see the round shape of their black shells, lurking just outside the hole in the wall.

"This is bad!" Twenty cried.

Megatron's fusion cannon roared, slamming a round into the side of the first scarab and blowing a huge whole in it's carapace. It wailed in pain and shock, purple gore pouring from it's wound. It's surprise was only matched by the stares of the incredulous Autobots who were picking themselves up off the ground. They took one look from Jack to the scarab, and then they acted, seizing the moment he had bought them. And again Jack beheld another incredible sight as immediately certain numbers of the Autobots divided up and formed into teams of five, transforming and coming together to form a single great Autobot, that reared up from the ground to stand four stories high. Three teams did this, these new leviathans booming in rage as they charged forward and bodily tackled the huge scarab, pounding at it even as the welded breech gave way and more of it's kind poured in.

A true clash of the titans was taking shape here, the blows of the combatants making the very air shake. A fourth leviathan transformed, turning and striding into battle, snatching up a steel beam like a club and wading in. And now Jack could see an Autobot captain shouting orders, gathering his troops around him, and it was at this moment that One of Five turned to him and the others and said goodbye.

"Good bye, Jackson." he smiled. "I am one of five."

"What?" Jack cried with a frown. But One of Five had already turned and ran off towards the fighting.

"Wait!" Jack cried, coming forward, but Twenty quickly stopped him.

"He has to go." Twenty said, watching the battle also. "He is one of five and they will need him to form Guardians."

"Dammit." Jack cursed, surprised at the distinct pang of loss he felt.

"We _must_ go!" Twenty cried. And together they headed away from the fight.

**ooo**

Slowly the battle faded behind them. But after a time, Jack noted that it was less frantic here, the ground and surrounding buildings less shot up, with teams of Autobots working on an interior line of defenses. It was almost as if they were preparing a second wall and this suggested an inevitable withdrawal from the front line not more than a thousand yards back. At least there were no more indiscriminate shells or dragonsnakes overhead, the sky above patrolled by tough looking Autobot gunships that reminded Jack of attack choppers.

The whole thing didn't feel so much like a video game now. Jack felt somber after One of Five had left them, and the twenty minutes it took to bring him back this far just showed him more ravaged mindscape. He was feeling disheartened, for there was an air of last stand about the whole thing here, even though he was walking past some formidable Autobot strength. He had found the time to remember Rafael's dire warning. For every hunter that falls, two take it's place.

There would be no winning here.

Even still, massive battle-tanks and anti-aircraft platforms rolled by, followed by columns of troops and towering guardians, all of them bristling with armaments and heading for the front. Twenty ignored it all, single-mindedly guiding Jack along and taking them through checkpoint after checkpoint.

Jack surreptitiously was trying to contact Blackrock again but it was no good and he knew they couldn't linger while he tried that trick again with the com-trooper. Then, at a final checkpoint, the com-trooper too was held back, in preparation for new orders supposedly, and the last Jack saw of him he was standing near a roadblock, waving cheerfully.

Finally, they reached a fortified encampment that bristled with razor wire and gun-pods around a huge central bunker that looked like some commandeered government building. As Twenty and Jack came up to the front gate, they were met by another massive Transformer, of a size with Jack, who came striding forward on articulated legs. He had no hands, his arms ended in just two massive solid round cannons, and his shoulders bristled with short-ranged missile pods, the front panels open and showing the warheads.

"Identify." He growled, his face a skull-mask of pure white that was lined with three diagonal orange bars of his command.

"I am Twenty of Twenty. I have brought the Jackson to see the commander." Twenty answered immediately.

Apparently, _this_ generation of Autobot antibody was of a different caliber than Twenty, for he did not immediately move aside. His head swiveled loosely on a thick corded neck, the hollow eyes of his skull helmet staring at Jack balefully.

"He is_ purple_." The massive officer rumbled, those sockets glowing a menacing deep gold.

Jack felt an uncharacteristic dislike of this one settle into him quickly. This close, he realized he was faced with the prospect of finally getting some answers. And what was more, now that he had seen so many different types of Autobot, he suddenly had the thought that perhaps Arcee _was_ this commander after all. Twenty hadn't recognized her name, but maybe it was as simple as Twenty being just a grunt who didn't know of whom he spoke. There was a clear hierarchy here, right? So why not?

Granted, if Arcee was trapped inside her own mind and seeing this all as just a war, it would have been unlikely for her to be at the center of command. That wasn't her style. But who could say what was going on here? Twenty had also mentioned a Prime, right? Maybe she was on the other side of this gate and through that armored door in some other type of official capacity.

Jack suddenly felt anxious to find out, feeling little patience to be made to stand out here like a door to door salesman after all he had been through.

"I've already been through all this and now I'm standing right here. You wanna move out of the way, Skeletor?" he growled back.

The massive Autobot bristled. "I do not understand your words, but the challenge is unmistakable."

"Fancy that."

Twenty, half the height of either of them, looked alarmed as he stood between them.

"I have code clearance Alpha." He said, raising his hands quickly. "I was ordered to bring in Jackson!"

"I am Four Hundred and Sixty Three of Five Hundred and Twelve. I do not _recognize_ that designation." the Autobot snarled, not looking away from Jack.

"But I do." A voice called. A male voice. And Jack looked up to see a newcomer standing above the armored entrance door of the building, looking over the hand railing of a small balcony that was reinforced and built up with steel mesh bags of carbon sand and two anti-aircraft pods. He was staring down at them with golden eyes.

Jack could see this one was of a size with him also, but more humanoid than the gun jockey officer challenging their clearance. He was well built, streamlined even, with a feeling of age about him and the orange and brown of his armor was of a slightly different hue. For a second Jack couldn't place it what set this one apart, but then he noticed this Autobot was trimmed in gold chrome striping and he had four vulcanized tires recessed into his arms and legs. But even more startling, his shoulder armor swept back into two very distinctive looking back-fins, making him the most familiar shape of Autobot Jack had yet seen.

He could have easily passed for a present day Autobot of team Prime and Jack had to admit he was a bit relieved.

"Let them inside, Captain. I would speak with them." The one spoke. He looked up again at Jack and their eyes met.

"I am Jenner-8. And I am in command here." he said.


End file.
